In relation to the Transaction Monitoring Netherlands (TMNL) initiative embarked upon by Dutch banks to jointly monitor transactions to report suspicious activities, the Dutch government in December, 2019 launched a consultative bill, containing plans to amend Dutch AML laws and regulations, which if approved, will give the financial institutions involved the legal backing to exchange data on both corporate and private high-risk clients. Presumably, the approval of this bill should help resolved concerns on data privacy rules and client confidentiality which can hamper this effort.
In recent years, questions have been raised about the effectiveness of AML control in detecting and reporting suspicious activities that leads to arrest and prosecutions, considering the financial cost and the human time invested in them. Some argue that large amounts of time and resource are being used unnecessarily. Which is why, this TMNL initiative designed to bridge the information gap between banks to help deliver better detection and reporting outcomes is a promising news.
According to the report, Mark Hanhart, ABN Amro’s global compliance head for anti-money laundering and sanctions, told moneylaundering.com. “I believe the initiative will prove to be a game changer.” Let us watch this space. Click here to read the full report.