Enabler of illicit activities and trade are the terms often used by hardline cashMoney in physical form such as banknotes and coins. More critics to describe this tangible method of paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More. Indeed, these arguments have resulted in a number restrictions and limitations of cash usage across the globe, including in the EU where, in 2016, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to stop issuing the €500. But the focus is shifting away from cash, as the MEPs Foreign Affairs Committee’s most recent non-legislative resolution for the fight against terrorism demonstrates. Indeed, MEPs provided a list of recommendations to the EU Council, the EU Commission and External Action Service that never mention cash.
MEPs agree that the most effective way to cripple terrorist activities is by cutting off their sources of funding. The submitted list calls for:
- Implementing of a number of measures to monitor organizations and individuals that have carried out suspicious transactions
- Improving the exchangeThe Eurosystem comprises the European Central Bank and the national central banks of those countries that have adopted the euro. More of information between financial institutions
- Enforcing pre-paid debit card activity monitoring on banks
- Monitoring suspicious “places of worship and education, centres, charities, and cultural associations”
- Improving scrutiny of large transferred sums in traditional cultural contexts (like hawalaA popular and informal value transfer system based not on the movement of cash, or on a telegraph or computer network or wire transfers between banks, but instead on the performance and honour of a huge network of money brokers (known as hawaladars). Today, hawala is used mostly for migrant workers’ remittances to their countries of origin. More, for example)
- Studying to what extent cryptocurrencies, blockchainAn unchangeable digital record where transactions are processed and verified by a network of independent computers rather than by a single referee. This decentralised structure has been described as an open distributed ledger. It supposedly enhances security as there is no single entity to be hacked. It also protects personal identity and guarantees that governments can’t block transactions or otherwise manipulate the payments space. The blockchain is the underlying technology supporting most ... More and other fintech technologies are being used for illicit activities
To read the European Parliament’s press release, please click here.