BRUSSELS, Belgium—The European Commission said it is considering creating a new authority to police financial crime and monitor banks more strictly.
Separately, four payments processors have announced a new alliance.
In an action plan sent to the EU’s 27 governments, the Commission said the EU need a system to tackle money laundering and financial crime with an EU-level supervisor.
“An integrated system should be put in place,” the document states.
The Commission said however that it must first conduct an assessment of the possible impact of such a scheme, according to Reuters.
Any EU-level supervision could be run out of the European Banking Authority or done by “a new, dedicated body,” the Commission said.
“One influential EU lawmaker said it should be a new agency not part of the European Banking Authority,” Reuters added.
“To fight money laundering in the financial system effectively, competences must be streamlined in a stand-alone EU anti-money laundering body,” said Markus Ferber, a German lawmaker who leads on financial matters for the largest political grouping in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party. “This is the kind of problem that warrants a dedicated EU agency to tackle it.”
New Payments Alliance
Separately, in Paris, four European payments processors – Ingenico Group, Nets, Nexi, and Worldline – have joined to launch the European Digital Payments Industry Alliance (EDPIA).
The body will engage in policy discussions impacting the E.U. payments sector and also push to bring instant, secure and frictionless payments closer to E.U. citizens, businesses, and public bodies, Finance Magnates reported.
The primary aim of the trade body is to make Europe a global leader in digital payments, Finance Magnates explained.
“The EDPIA will give a voice to the incredible technology and engineering behind Europe’s payments industry,” Gilles Grapinet, chairman and CEO of Worldline, said. “Europe has a wealth of world-class payments firms which have become strongholds of Europe’s fintech environment. We want to help demystifying our industry and offer European society a better understanding of what is behind the payments terminals and online payments engines it uses daily.”
‘Intense Competition’
The EDPIA will be inclined towards enforcing the European policy framework that allows intense competition between transparent and market-based solutions, Finance Magnates said.
The EDPIA also believes the E.U. should build a payments ecosystem on the SEPA project which will boost account-to-account payments, Finance Magnates said.
“As this health crisis unfolds, cashless and contactless payments are developing stronger than ever as they foster safety for customers and merchants,” Nicolas Huss, CEO of Ingenico Group and vice president of the EDPIA, said.