The Commission has proposed a regulation whereby all money transfers into and out of Europe will have to include the name, address and account number of the sender of the funds. By a simplified procedure, for transfers within and between member states, only the account number need be supplied, although name and address details must be given on request from the recipient's bank.
The aim is to cut off terrorist financing by providing a trace on the source of moneys transferred: to this end details must be kept for 5 years. If the required information is not present and not given on request, the receiving bank may refuse the transfer. Further, if there are suspicions of terrorist financing, the bank may inform the relevant authorities.
The regulation transposes into EU law obligations set by the international Financial Action Task Force on money laundering, which finalised nine special recommendations on terrorist financing in 2004.
The regulation is one of the anti-terrorism measures put at the top of the agenda by the UK Presidency at an extraordinary meeting of EU ministers called on 13 July, following the first wave of London bombings on 7 July 2005 (see EurActiv 14 July 2005).
