The BIS Innovation Hub’s Nordic Centre has successfully concluded Project Aurora, a proof of concept that explores new ways of combating money laundering with a combination of payments data, privacy-enhancing technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and enhanced cooperation across institutions and borders. According to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), almost all large money laundering schemes are cross-border and involve different business sectors. Meanwhile, financial institutions often face limitations in detecting potential suspicious networks and transactions due to their reliance on fragmented data and systems. Continue reading…

A few weeks ago, the Commission adopted a Recommendation on how to combat commercial scale online piracy of sports and other live events, such as concerts and theatre performances. It encourages Member States, national authorities, holders of rights and providers of intermediary services to take effective, balanced and appropriate measures to fight unauthorised retransmissions of such streamings, in full compliance with fundamental rights and personal data protection rules. By stepping up the fight against online piracy, the Recommendation will contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the EU sport and creative industries.
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Eurojust has supported the authorities in the Netherlands and Finland with a coordinated operation against dividend fraud and tax evasion. During an action day, two suspects were arrested in the Netherlands and Finland, who are allegedly involved in so-called ‘Cum-Cum’ and ‘Cum-Ex’ fraud. Eurojust assisted with organising the action day and helped set up a joint investigation team (JIT) between Finland, the Netherlands and Germany. Continue reading…

by Alex Movchan

We recently conducted an interview together with Timur Khasanov-Batirov (the Netherlands), Co-founder of Dutch Compliance Club. This particular talk focused on topics such as top priorities for compliance officers, the implementation of compliance programs, current trends in large organisations, and ESG.  Continue reading…

by Sandro Severoni

In his novelette “The Bicentennial man” published in 1976, sixteen years later used as reference for the book “The Positronic Man” from him and Robert Silverberg, and in 1999 for the movie from Chris Columbus, Isaac Asimov depicted the character of a robot who evolves during two centuries from being a robot, created to serve as butler to a family that had early on discovered that it had some abilities to carve objects from wood, to a conscious being wanting to consider itself a man. As Thomas Metzinger mentioned in 2009 in his “The science of mind and the myth of the self”: “it is conceivable that someday we will be able to construct artificial agents (…) self-sustaining systems”, this may bring to consider that, if we were able to create such agents in self-sustaining machines possessing some kind of consciousness qualities, it will raise concerns about their moral status and how they are treated, included into a society, receive rights and legal protection. Continue reading…

The European Commission has updated the list of high-risk third-country jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. Two third-country jurisdictions were added to it: Nigeria and South Africa, while two other jurisdictions were delisted: Cambodia and Morocco. This list takes into account the information from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the changes decided at the last FATF Plenary of February 2023 in the list of ‘Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring’ (‘grey list’). Considering the level of financial systems’ integration, the Single Market would be exposed to serious risks of money laundering and terrorist financing if the EU were not to consider adding jurisdictions identified by the FATF to the EU list. Continue reading…

On 15 February 2023, the European Commission decided to refer Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary and Poland to the Court of Justice for failure to transpose and notify the national measures transposing the directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law into their legal framework (Directive (EU) 2019/1937). The directive requires Member States to provide whistleblowers working in the public and private sectors with effective channels to report breaches of EU rules confidentially, establishing a robust system of protection against retaliation. This applies both internally (within an organisation) and externally (to a competent public authority). Member States had to transpose the necessary measures to comply with the Directive’s provisions by 17 December 2021. Continue reading…

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Eurojust’s role in fighting core international crimes was significantly enhanced in 2022, says the Agency’s Annual Report, published on 24 May. Just weeks after the outbreak of the war, the Agency provided essential support to the set-up of a joint investigation team (JIT) into alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Subsequently, Eurojust’s mandate was rapidly extended to allow the Agency to store and analyse evidence on core international crimes. By the end of the year, the European Commission asked Eurojust to host the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA).  Continue reading…

by Nigel Cannings

The number of fines issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) more than doubled in 2022. From the breach of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules, and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, to problems with operating guidelines, individuals and businesses within the UK paid out more than £215 million in fines last year. Regulations have become more stringent. Compliance is much more closely monitored, leaving businesses struggling not only to adhere to the regulations but to demonstrate that they have done so and one of the most effective solutions has taken the form of voice tech.  Continue reading…