The Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) was adopted by the European Parliament on the 19th of April 2018, and should be fully implemented into national law by the various Member States from eighteen months to the date in which it is published in the Official Journal. This is merely a year after the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD) was implemented. This shows the magnitude of the problem of money laundering.
Summary of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD)
In the 5AMLD, there were five main changes. Firstly, all EU citizens should have access to information of the true owners of letterbox companies and data about the beneficial owners of firms operating in the EU. Furthermore, the beneficial ownership register requirements shall also apply to trusts and similar arrangements, subject to the “legitimate interests” requirements. In this regard, Member States are also afforded the discretion to allow broader access to beneficial ownership information on trusts. Secondly, virtual currencies now has a uniform definition and the new directive impose the obligation on operators of virtual currency planforms and wallet providers to carry out due diligence procedures on their users. Thirdly, a reduction in the maximum monthly payment transaction are now reduced from €250 to €150 and the maximum amount of money stored on such cards may not exceed this threshold. Fourthly, the 5 AMLD provides for the increased powers of FIUs, who shall be granted access to information from entities on their own initiative and without the need of a prior report being made. Lastly, the 5AMLD aims to create a standardized approach to business relationships involving high risk countries and creates uniform enhanced due diligence measures across the EU.
Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD)
KYC360 reported on how the 6AMLD measures up to the 5AMLD and looked at the additional measures of the 6AMLD, how it is different, considerations and weighing the consequences of the 6AMLD. This is an interesting article by Denis O’Connor, both a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment. He gives an expert analysis of the new EU measures. The most significant element of 6AMLD is to provide a harmonised list of twenty two predicate offences. Some of the offences mentioned in the article include tax crimes and cybercrime as a predicate offence. By explicitly defining all these predicate offences, 6AMLD will necessarily impose greater obligations on firms. Their staff will have to be trained to recognise possible indicators of all these predicate offences as well as firms having to implement monitoring systems to detect proceeds possibly linked to these offences. In providing for a common definition of money laundering throughout the EU, the Commission proposes that “self-laundering” falls within the scope of the offence.
Please read the original article HERE.
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