ECB urges stronger EU powers on money laundering

The European Union needs clearer rules against money laundering that would apply equally to all EU countries, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday, but several governments, including Germany, urged caution.

The 28-nation bloc is grappling with a string of high-profile cases of money laundering at banks in several member states, including Estonia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Malta and Latvia.

"A higher level of harmonisation of the applicable rules in the form of a regulation should be considered", de Guindos told EU finance ministers during a public debate in Luxembourg.

An EU regulation is directly applicable in all EU countries, but EU rules against money laundering are currently defined in directives which give governments broad leeway in their application. This has resulted in different levels of enforcement and gaps in the EU framework.

However, EU governments have long been reluctant to give away national powers to monitor banks and fight crime.

Many of them confirmed on Tuesday their scepticism to de Guindos's appeal and to a European Commission's plan to slightly strengthen common supervision against money laundering.

Germany,...