The European Parliament voted to amend the draft Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD) so that beneficial owners of EU companies and trusts would have to be listed in public registries, which would be shared across Europe:
Under the anti-money laundering directive (AMLD), as amended by the vote, a public central register in each EU country would list information on the ultimate beneficial owners of all sorts of legal arrangements, including companies, foundations, holdings and trusts.
These registers would be interconnected across the EU and would be “publicly available following prior identification of the person wishing to access the information through basic online registration.” Several provisions in the amended AMLD are intended to protect data privacy and to ensure that only the minimum information necessary is put in the register.
The proposed rules would require banks, financial institutions, auditors, lawyers, accountants, tax advisors, and real estate agents, among others, to be more vigilant about suspicious transactions made by their clients. Casinos are included in the scope of the draft rules, but other gambling services posing a low risk may be excluded by member states.
The article also notes that the draft directive would also extended Politically Exposed Person (PEP) status to domestic officials.
Disclaimer: This article comes from lexisnexis.com. Lexis Nexis is part of Reed Elsevier, which is also Accuity's parent company (and Mr. Watchlist works for Accuity).
Link:
European Parliament Votes to Toughen Anti-Money Laundering Rules