Övervakning och tillsyn av penningtvätt och finansiering av terrorism inom den Europeiska unionen. : Behöver övervakningen och tillsynen centraliseras och i så fall på vilket sätt?

Sammanfattning: We live in a world where criminality is a part of our everyday life. In order for criminality to continue, it is essential for criminals to be able to use the financial system to launder money and finance terrorism. Money laundering means that funds of illegal origin are laundered in the financial system in order to later become legal. Unlike money laundering, funds used to finance terrorism can have both illegal and legal origins. Transactions linked to money laundering and terrorist financing are suspected to account for 1% of the EU’s annual economic activity and thus pose a threat to the EU’s financial stability.  Today, the responsibility for monitoring and supervising money laundering and terrorist financing is decentralized to the Member States. EU-regulation is currently not clear enough or efficient. Member States’ enforcement of the regulation is asymmetric, the supervisory work of national authorities is insufficient and cross-border cooperation is deficient. In order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, it is essential that the supervisory work is effective in order to detect and prevent these crimes. A change is needed and in July 2021 the European Commission therefore presented a proposal for a legislative package containing a number of measures to prevent the financial system from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing. The most central part of this package contains a proposal to centralize the supervision by setting up an EU-level authority. The authority shall monitor the supervisory work of national authorities and be responsible for direct and indirect supervision. This thesis examines how monitoring and supervision should be organized within the EU in order to prevent the financial system from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, the thesis discusses whether a change in the institutional structure can lead to a more efficient supervisory work for national supervisory authorities.  The conclusion of this thesis is that a change in the institutional structure is necessary in order to change the supervisory work of national authorities and make it more efficient. Centralized monitoring and supervision at EU-level must therefore be considered as beneficial. The commission’s proposal to set up an EU-level authority is currently the most effective way of organizing monitoring and supervision. The authority can, by adopting guidelines and by exercising direct and indirect supervision, contribute to a reduced uncertainty regarding the application of the regulation and the exercising of supervision. Hence, the commission’s proposal most likely will lead to a decrease in money laundering and terrorist financing.