Yesterday I published an article on the AML package as presented by the European Commission in July 2021. The proposals are dealt with in the ECON and LIBE committees of the European Parliament, that have held two public hearings, one on 1 December 2021 and another one on 22 March 2022.

Of the companies that are required by the anti-money laundering legislation to carry out public tasks, only the legal profession was represented through the CCBE.
Refinitiv is a big American compliance services provider that was also taking part, and is expected to make a lot of money from the new European anti-money laundering rules. Further the government-funded transparency lobby group Transparency International was present.

Programme 1 December 2021 (announcement, video)
Presentations / speeches by:

• Raluca Pruna, Head of the Financial Crime Unit in DG FISMA, European  Commission
• Mihails Kozlovs, Member of the European Court of Auditors
• Joshua Kirschenbaum, non-resident fellow of the German Marshall Fund (GMF), co-author of the Bruegel report on “A better European Union architecture to fight money laundering”
• Burkhard Mühl, Head of the European Economic and Financial Crime Centre, Europol

and several discussions.

Programme 22 March 2022 (announcement, video)
Presentations / speeches by:

• Marcus Pleyer, President of the Financial Action Task Force
• Guillaume Valette-Valla, Head of Financial Intelligence Unit France (TRACFIN)
• Ilze Znotina, Head of Financial Intelligence Unit Latvia
• Che Sidanius, Global Head of Financial Crime & Industry Affairs, Refinitiv
• Margarete von Galen, former President, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE)
• Roland Papp, Senior Policy Officer – illicit financial flows, Transparency International EU

and several discussions.

Mr. Pleyer of FATF during the hearing of 22 March 2022