The European Central Bank (ECB) has issued its opinion on the proposals for a new directive on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing and a new regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds.

The opinion lays out a concise summary of the proposed changes in both instruments (which were noted in the February issue of our Funds e-zine) and presents a number of suggestions for changes to these proposals.

ECB’s Observations

The ECB’s observations focus mainly on the following:

• The ECB considers that the proposed EU instruments correctly and effectively address the weaknesses identified in the current EU regime.
• Member States may decide to further lower the thresholds set by the proposed directive (€7,500) or to take even stricter measures.
• The ECB recommends that the exemption of parties providing messages or other support services from the scope of the directive should be provided in the enacting terms of the proposed EU instruments.
• The ECB suggests that Article 2 of the proposed regulation be amended as follows:
  • The definitions of “payer” and “payee” should be aligned with the definitions of these terms in the Payment Services Directive (PSD).
  • The concept of “payment service provider” is established by the PSD and limited to six different categories of providers of such services listed in the PSD.  Accordingly the definition of this concept in the proposed regulation should refer to the PSD.
  • The definition of ‘’a person-to-person’ transfer of funds” should be more clearly defined as a transaction between two natural persons, both acting in their personal capacity outside the scope of their business, trade or profession.