European Commission Releases Fact Sheet on Plan to Strengthen the Fight Against Terrorist Financing

Anti-Money Laundering Combating the Financing of Terrorism

On February 2, the European Commission issued a fact sheet regarding its plan to strengthen the fight against terrorist financing, posing and answering questions on topic areas including, but not limited to: (i) the measures the EU has already taken to combat the financing of terrorism; (ii) how the EU addresses terrorist financing risks linked to high-risk third countries; (iii) the possibility of defining a legal framework for freezing the assets of terrorists posing a threat to EU internal security; (iv) the risks associated with prepaid cards as used by terrorists; and (v) how the EU tackles the movement of large volumes of cash across borders. The fact sheet frequently refers to the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering package, which was adopted in May 2015 and, among other things, seeks to protect credit and financial institutions against the risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing.