This workstream will focus on professional enablers, such as lawyers, real estate brokers, and accountants who help, knowingly or not, to move illicit funds into legitimate systems. The workstream will begin operating in 2025, based on insights shared by expert speakers during the event.A highlight of the plenary was Wim Mijs, CEO of the European Banking Federation, meeting Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle. They discussed how the financial sector and law enforcement can work together to fight financial crime. Their joint closing speeches on 5 December emphasised the EFIPPP’s vital role in building a unified approach against illicit activity.Catherine De Bolle, Europol Executive Director: Success in a globalised world is not achieved by strength alone, but by the partnerships we build. I am therefore very proud to see how the EFIPPP has developed. The project started with just a handful of partners sharing concerns and expertise and gradually grew to become the fully-fledged public-private partnership we know today; an innovative and dynamic platform allowing public and private partners to work together in building a common intelligence picture of financial crime threats and terrorist financing.Wim Mijs, CEO of the European Banking Federation: Since its inception, the EFIPPP has grown into a ground breaking alliance, bringing together 96 institutions from 27 jurisdictions. This includes law enforcement agencies, Financial Intelligence Units, and financial institutions. This remarkable expansion highlights the increasing recognition across sectors of the necessity and shared desire to work hand in hand to combat financial crime. The EFIPPP is the first transnational information sharing mechanism ever established in the field of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing. Created in 2017, the EFIPPP provides an environment for cross-border cooperation and information exchange between Europol, competent authorities (including Financial Intelligence Units and law enforcement agencies) and regulated financial service entities such as banks.The EFIPPP offers a unique opportunity to test and increase possibilities for cross-border cooperation that transcends sectorial lines. In particular, the EFIPPP seeks to:Build a common intelligence picture and understanding of financial crime risks through the examination and public-private sharing of risk indicators, early warnings and threat typologies;Facilitate the exchange of operational or tactical intelligence associated with on-going investigations (in accordance with the applicable national and EU legal frameworks);Identify gateways for information sharing and support work on clarification of regulatory constraints (in accordance with the applicable national and EU legal frameworks);Promote the use of new tools for combatting financial crime, leveraging new technologies and exchanging common experience and methods for innovation and trainings;Support domestic and similar collaborative fora in relevant jurisdictions with the goal to act as an effective hub between the different platforms and facilitate cross-public-private partnership information and intelligence sharing.
Europol hosts milestone EFIPPP plenary to tackle financial crime