The world-wide organisation of FIU’s [1], the Egmont Group, in July this year published a statement on the use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in combatting crime [2]:

Public Statement by the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units – Advancing the Future of Public-Private Partnerships in Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

Attached to the statement are a report on PPPs (pdf) and a brochure on PPPs (pdf).

The report explains, in veiled terms, that the current system for detecting crime (‘anti-money laundering’, AML, and countering terrorist financing, ‘CFT’) has failed and that hopes are now pinned on analysing, in collaboration with the banks [3], the transactions and activities of every citizen and organisation in the countries participating in the Egmont Group.

The report is useful for the EU, at a time when public authorities are busy preparing AML/CFT-partnerships with banks to analyse transactions across the EU, based on the Payment Services Regulation (PSR), which is expected to come into force shortly, and on the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) (including Article 75) which will come into force in 2027.

Notes:

[1] FIUs, ‘Financial Intelligence Units’, are government bodies to which organisations with anti-crime responsibilities, such as banks, must report suspected criminal activity.
[2] By using the terms ‘money laundering’ and ‘terrorist financing’, the authorities suggest that the public responsibilities of businesses (‘obliged entities’, ‘OEs’) are limited; in reality, however, these terms cover all forms of crime that yield a financial gain – in other words, just about everything.
[3] As is customary, the publications obscure the fact that this is not about cooperation with ‘the private sector’, but actually about cooperation with banks. The role of other companies is irrelevant, e.g. because they have too little contact with their customers or are themselves too small.

Illustration from the PPPs brochure by the Egmont Group