U executive seeks supervisor of anti-money laundering fight

The European Union's executive arm unveiled plans Thursday for improving how money laundering and financing for extremist groups are countered across the 27-country bloc, with the goal of creating a supervising authority to ensure every member nation follows EU rules.

The European Commission's proposal describes an EU-level position with investigative powers and the job of making efforts to halt the cross-border flow of dirty-money more effective and efficient.

To develop high-quality standards across the EU, it will be crucial for the oversight body to have authority to conduct on-site inspections, the commission said.

Supervision within the EU is currently member state-based. Its quality and effectiveness are uneven across the EU, due to significant variations in human and financial resources, skills and priority devoted to this task," the plan states.

The commission said it wants to implement the plan in the next 12 months. The commission presented its proposals a week after the ..