Introduction
On 14th February 2024, the EU Council and Parliament found a provisional agreement on parts of the anti-money laundering package that aims to protect EU citizens and the EU's financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing. According to Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgian Minister of Finance, “..This agreement is part and parcel of the EU’s new anti-money laundering system. It will improve the way national systems against money laundering and terrorist financing are organised and work together. This will ensure that fraudsters, organised crime and terrorists will have no space left for legitimising their proceeds through the financial system...”
In another development, Raiffeisen Bank International disclosed in its annual report that Austria's financial regulator FMA has been investigating the Bank over anti-money-laundering failures. The investigation is focused on the so-called know-your-customer rules, the bank said, referring to a key safety guard to prevent money laundering. It comes as the group, the largest Western bank in Russia, is also under investigation by the United States' sanctions authority, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.