In an attempt to combat money laundering in Germany, a new financial crime authority has been proposed.
There are currently over 300 supervisory bodies in Germany. But the finance ministry believes it would be easier to target international money laundering by having one major financial crime authority in place.
Events in Germany have indicated an urgent need to coordinate international financial crime cases. The Wire Card scandal involved fraud on an enormous scale - fraud that was discovered too late. That scandal demonstrated the shortcomings of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BAFIN), which is Germany's financial regulator.
International financial crime cases require the use of many resources, modern technology and staffing from both a prosecution and defence perspective. Without these, large-scale money laundering cases may only be discovered when it is too late.
After being criticised for its supervision being fragmented and inconsistent, Germany's plans to establish a new financial crime authority are in line with the latest Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.
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