The European Commission started an internet consultation on EU rules on public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the area of the prevention of money laundering (AML) and terrorist financing (CFT).

The subject of the consultation is described as follows:

The objective of the consultation will be to collect additional relevant evidence in the form of views and opinions supported, to the extent possible, by facts and figures. The consultation aims to obtain information with regard to, for example, the types of public-private partnerships currently operating in the EU Member States in the area of preventing and fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, the public authorities (e.g. FIUs, law enforcement, supervisory authorities) and private sector entities which participate, the types of information exchanged within those partnerships and the measures put in place to guarantee the preservation of fundamental rights. The consultation would also aim to gather input with regard to the mechanisms put in place to measure the effectiveness and success of those partnerships (e.g. key performance indicators (KPIs) or any other performance metrics) and to improve the Commission’s understanding of the impacts, benefits and added value of the various public-private partnerships in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The call for evidence would also provide an opportunity for the various public authorities and private entities, which take part in public-private partnerships, to explain and elaborate on the challenges faced and what do they pertain to.
The ultimate objective of the consultation is to provide the Commission with sufficient information and evidence for the purposes of preparing the guidance on the rules applicable to the use of public private partnerships in the framework of preventing and fighting money laundering and terrorist financing and issue best practices.

The target audience:

All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. Views are in particular welcome from Member States, national and EU competent authorities, as well as businesses and service providers that are subject to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism rules. Civil society (NGOs, specialised policy organisations, think tanks), university and/or academic institutions are also target groups of this consultation.

The consultation closes 2 November 2021 midnight Brussels time.

More information:

• Consultation page.
• Consultation document (pdf).

Addition 11 January 2022
The European Banking Federation (EBF) responded to Public Consultation on Guidance on the Rules Applicable to the Use of Public-Private Partnerships in The Framework of Preventing and Fighting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, read their article and read their response. Banks ask for these partnerships, as they want more information to enable them to do their crimefighting tasks better, from the article:

At present, obliged entities send large numbers of SARs to FIUs with no or insufficient quantitative feedback. This situation does not allow obliged entities to focus on the most relevant predicate offenses and leads to an increased number of false positives. Often finding the relevant information for law enforcement authorities may feel like finding a needle in a haystack. If an intelligence-led approach were applied in the AML/CFT framework, obliged entities could receive information on current trends and typologies, as well as operational data which would allow them to focus their efforts on priorities as defined by law enforcement authorities. As a result, obliged entities would be able to send back more actionable data and do it in a smarter and aligned with data minimisation requirements way, reporting information when truly necessary.

The complex nature of money laundering and terrorism financing, often involving cross-border flows of funds and the involvement of many layers of entities, makes it challenging to detect such crimes when the data available to do so is mainly limited to a regulated entity’s own customer base and available open-source intelligence. Being able to enrich this view with information from other private sector entities and competent authorities enhances the likelihood of effective detection for all parties involved in a public-private partnership. It also allows both obliged entities and public authorities to form a holistic overall view of the current trends.