European Union: Opened consultation on guidelines on preventing the abuse of funds and certain crypto-assets transfers for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes

On 24 November 2023, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued proposed new industry guidelines and opened a public consultation until 26 February 2024. The primary aim of the guideline is to address the misuse of funds and crypto assets for terrorism financing and other financial crimes. It also aims to enhance the tracing capabilities of relevant authorities for preventing, detecting, or investigating money laundering and terrorism financing activities. The order delegates the EBA to issue guidelines on identifying and handling incomplete or missing information in fund or crypto-asset transfers. These guidelines are expected to replace the 2017 Joint European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) Guidelines under Article 25 of Regulation (EU) 2015/847, maintaining the risk-based approach that allows entities to tailor their compliance measures proportionately to their business size and exposure to ML/TF risks.