Cutting off terrorist financing
To allow law enforcement authorities timely access to financial information necessary for investigations of serious crimes (including information on bank accounts and financial analysis), the Commission is proposing a new Directive which will provide for:
- Direct access to bank account information: law enforcement authorities and Asset Recovery Offices will have direct access on a case-by-case basis to bank account information contained in national, centralised registries enabling the authorities to identify in which banks a suspect holds accounts. Data protection safeguards ensure that only limited information on the identity of the bank account holder and only in specific cases of serious crime or terrorism would be made available to law enforcement officers.
- Better cooperation: the Directive provides for better cooperation between national law enforcement authorities and the national Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) as well as between Member States. This includes the possibility for law enforcement to request financial information or analysis from FIUs – including data on financial transactions, as well as the possibility for FIUs to request law enforcement information from their competent national authorities
Source: European Commission
