Germany is set to establish its new Federal Bureau of Financial Intelligence as the country’s office overseeing monitoring and analysis of money laundering and sanctions enforcement, according to multiple reports.
Details regarding the new office were set out in a draft law viewed by Reuters and AML Intelligence. The German finance ministry did not respond to requests from Compliance Week to view the draft law.
The office is set to begin operations in 2024 and have nearly 2,000 employees, according to the reports. Germany’s finance ministry has budgeted more than 700 million euros (U.S. $772 million) toward its implementation.
Last year, the Financial Action Task Force called out Germany as needing to improve its efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing as one of the world’s largest economies. Germany itself has been critical of its work in these areas, with Finance Minister Christian Lindner stating last August the country “must overcome its reputation as a money-laundering paradise.”
The Federal Bureau of Financial Intelligence is part of a three-point plan the country has set out to combat financial crime that also includes providing training to produce more highly qualified financial investigators and the enhancement of company and property registers so the true owners of businesses can easily be identified.
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