Mr. Gabriel Makhlouf:

It is crystal clear that there are sizeable money-laundering risks in Europe and in the financial system within Europe. We have seen that crystallise in some very large cases, including in some large banks. I do not think it is limited to the banks themselves. This is recognised at European level and there is a reasonably high degree of consensus at that level that something needs to be done to improve anti-money laundering throughout Europe from both regulation and supervision perspectives. It is very important that this is thought about in an international way because of the nature of international monetary flows. Earlier this week, I was at a meeting of the supervisory board of the ECB for banking union. The Commissioner was there and we had a long discussion on money-laundering risk and the need for us not just to think about it in the banking system but to look at it throughout the financial services system. There is absolutely a need for us to play our part locally and domestically, as Ms Rowland has outlined, and at European level to improve how the system works because there is undoubtedly a risk.