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European commissioner Mairead McGuinness has insisted that the EU’s latest financial crime package will deliver where prior directives have not.

“We have had several iterations of anti-money laundering legislation and none of it has been effective enough because we didn’t have European oversight,” acknowledged McGuinness in a talk with the Royal United Services Institute, a security and defence think tank.

The talk, which focused on the EU’s approach to sanctions and anti-money laundering legislation, took place at Europe House in London, which is home to the EU’s delegation to the UK.

“The centralisation is key and the regulation is key so there are uniform rules, as well as the AMLD6,” she said, referring to the directive that is being introduced alongside the EU’s first AML regulation.

The package will solve many of the problems identified with previous legislation, she continued.

For example, an ever tightening set of rules has not prevented scandals in the EU such as Danske Bank being used to launder Russian money at its branch in Tallinn.

She did, however, admit that “criminals are way ahead most of the time” in a hint that this probably will not be the last financial crime package that Brussels unveils.

In particular, she noted technology as a key issue for anti-money laundering (AML), referencing the now favourite regulatory buzz word for bad dealings — "crypto".

McGuinness insisted that co-legislators are working together closely on getting the financial crime package over the finishing line. “There is a lot of goodwill.”

In her talk, the Irish politician also downplayed the impact of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling regarding transparency.

In November last year, it issued an opinion that public beneficial ownership databases, such as Companies House in the UK, do not comply with the right to privacy, following a complaint from a Luxembourg company.

“I will push back on the analysis of the court ruling,” she said. “It didn’t rule that access to the beneficial ownership register is closed off. It specifies that there are legitimate interest and that those who want access have to show legitimate interest.”

How it has been reported is not “accurate”, she said.

“I wouldn’t like the impression to go out that the registers are closed,” she said. “Europe is very strong on data protection and European citizens like the idea that their data is protected, but European citizens also like to think that those who are involved in crime get caught.”

The European commissioner, whose remit also includes areas such as payment services regulation, further added that the EU and its allies' work on sanctions thus far can be considered a success.

She noted that this was particularly evident considering the focus on the EU’s latest instalment is circumvention.

“Nobody ever said that sanctions work overnight.”

New authority

McGuinness, who previously served as a member of the European Parliament, also touched upon the launch of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA).

The AMLA would be the centre of an integrated system composed of the authority itself and the national authorities with an AML/CTF supervisory mandate.

It would also support EU financial intelligence units (FIUs) and establish a cooperation mechanism among them.

Cities including Frankfurt, Madrid and Vilnius have put themselves forward to host the AMLA.

Vilnius has even purchased advertising space outside the Luxembourg train station, located next to the European Parliament.

“The fact that there are now member states competing to host the new anti-money laundering authority is very healthy,” she said.

Not to give anything away, despite the AMLA being estimated to launch by 2025, she said decisions will come about “in their own good time”.