GDF has responded to the European Parliament’s amendments to the transfer of funds proposal.
The European Parliament has taken a stance on unhosted wallets that is not tech neutral, a principle that is supposed to be at the heart of EU financial services regulation. Equivalent actions, for example, through the use of cash do not have these requirements.
The obligations placed on exchanges are overly burdensome and will make compliance extremely difficult, given the need to collect data on consumers who are not customers.
Whilst the intention is to try and get a stronger hold of AML / CTF in the Union, it has not understood the industry and will likely lead to transactions being done outside of exchanges.
The council text is softer than the current Parliament text and we do hope that trilogues will see these provisions watered down.
Read GDF’s full letter, outlining:
- The need to take a proportionate approach on unhosted wallets
- The need to reinstate the EUR 1,000 threshold and removal of blanket reporting to competent authorities
- The need for an extension of the phase-in period