Unlock eSignature Legitimacy for Financial Services in European Union

How to eSign a document: eSignature legitimacy for Financial Services in European Union

financial services and compliance employees normally associate the words aml eu directives with more training changing rules and understanding new policies and procedures however these directives the majority of the time go unnoticed by the general public so what exactly do they mean in today's video we will be taking a look at what is an aml european union directive what does it mean and how is this one different to the other five hello and welcome to another kyc lookup video where we bring you aml related content to help you enhance your knowledge in the fight against money laundering before diving into today's video be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on any future videos oh and don't forget to leave us a comment with any suggested topics you would like us to cover in the future so what is a european union aml directive a european union anti-money laundering directive or eu aml directives as they are mostly known as are intended to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing and establish a consistent regulatory environment across the eu this is done by addressing the emergency money laundering and terrorist financing typologies helping to close aml compliance gaps the eu anti-money laundering directives have been issued periodically by the european parliament since 1990 and require each member to start to transpose them into local legislation by a set date when was the latest eu aml directive released the most recent eu aml directive was released on the 3rd of december 2020 and requires to be transposed into domestic legislation across all member states by the 3rd of june 2021 how is the sixth eu aml directive different to the other five the sixth eu directive replaces the fifth and fourth eu directive every directive adds to or updates regulatory obligations on member state governments each directive enhances the previous one and provide further guidance on any existing or new risk involving money laundering or terrorist financing the sixth eu aml directive focuses on four key areas the expansion of regulatory scope improved harmonization cooperation among member states and stricter criminal penalties let's look at each area in more detail the expansion of regulatory scope the six eu aml directives gives more clarity to the definition of money laundering and ensures there is more consistency across the eu member states at the time of interpreting what money laundering means is a crime previous regulations only prosecuted those individuals and organizations that directly profited from money laundering but new directive ensures that anybody that enables financial crime is also held legally responsible as a result any person that helps someone order money or finance terrorism will themselves be committing the same crime the rule also extends to anyone who is caught attempting to launder money whether or not they were successful improved harmonization the sixth eu aml directive provides a list of 22 different offences that are legally considered money laundering this extensive list includes human trafficking tax crimes cyber crimes environmental crimes and many more it is worth highlighting that this is the first time that cyber crimes have been included in the context of an anti-money laundering directive businesses around the eu will have to train employees to adjust their aml programs so they can properly prevent and detect these illegal activities cooperation among member states the sixth eu aml directive promotes collaboration between member states in relation to the handling of money laundering offences for example if a money laundering operation is taking place across two different countries borders both of which are member states then these two countries should work together going forward to identify the illegal operations then prosecute and convict the criminals in question this will help to centralize the legal proceedings and ensure that judgments are issued in a standardized way across the european union stricter criminal penalties the crime of money laundering may involve dual criminality which is the principle that a crime may committed in one jurisdiction before its financial proceeds are laundered to another the minimum prison sentence for anyone found guilty of money laundering offences was also increased to improve consistency in punishments across the member states from one year to four years in prison although most eu member states already have a much higher maximum sentence than this directive imposes what measures should we take before the june deadline all banks financial institutions and other regulated industries should be using this time to ensure they are familiar with the changes the sixth eu aml directive brings update the in-house aml policy and procedures ingly and prepare their aml compliance teams for the changes that will be introduced recap the eu aml directives are intended to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing and establish a consistent regulatory environment across the eu the sixth eu aml directive was released on the 3rd december 2020 and requires to be transposed in domestic legislation across all member states by the third of june 2021 and all regulated business will have to comply with the directive by this june date there are four key areas which the sixth eu aml directive focuses on the expansion of regulatory scope improved harmonization cooperation among member states and stricter criminal penalties well there you have it a basic introduction to what is an eu aml directive how is it different to the previous funds and what measures should be taken please tell us in the comments section what is your interpretation of the sixth eu aml directive and do you think it will impact organized crime in the european region thank you for watching the video and if you made it this far don't forget to like and subscribe to watch more amazing videos