The damning revelations from the “FinCEN Files” leaks have once again put Europe and its supposed world-leading anti-money laundering (AML) rules under the spotlight.

A spate of European banks—Denmark’s Danske Bank, Germany’s Deutsche Bank, and the U.K.’s HSBC and Barclays Bank—are among many of the world’s largest financial institutions that apparently shifted dirty money around the globe and profited from the funds.

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...