Banks to access secret State database in dirty cash fight

Financial institutions will soon be granted access to a State database on secret owners of companies to enable them to swiftly flag and report suspicious transactions involving people using proxies, friends and relatives to evade the anti-money laundering law.

This is part of the amendments to the anti-money laundering law now headed to Parliament, which seeks to remove the blindfold that has undermined the efforts by banks to flag suspicious transactions.