ABSTRACT
9.1 This Chapter deals with the triangle: banks, money laundering and the European Community. In particular, it attempts to provide a detailed analysis of EC Directive 91/308, the main instrument adopted by the European Community for combating money laundering; explain what obligations and duties are placed by virtue of this Directive upon banks and other financial institutions operating in the Community’s 15 Member States; and illustrate the dilemmas which banks are faced with in following, in the course of business, the express terms of the Directive. Additionally, it considers the way in which the Directive has been implemented in various Member States and shows how, in the case of Austria, in particular, a specific provision of the Directive clashed with that country’s banking tradition of over 200 years. Moreover, this Chapter refers to the newly operative European Police Office (EUROPOL) and the other attempts among the Community partners to foster closer police co-operation, whose European-wide operations would invariably involve banks. Finally, reference is made to the on-going discussion to amend the Directive, in view of the experience obtained and in order better to reflect current practice in this area.
