In the fight against terrorism and organised crime, the headlines naturally focus on the more sensational and obvious aspects of operations, such as police dawn raids and arrests. But one of the less-publicised and less-known aspects of prevention is the issue of finding ways to prevent the global financing of terrorism through the financial markets. We need only to look at the relationship between the diminishing activities of Al Shabaab in Somalia and the crackdown against piracy for an example of this. This report, on the Prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing, introduces a number of measures that will bring greater transparency to the financial system, particularly in terms of establishing a central public register of beneficial owners, particularly in offshore jurisdictions. I also welcome the report's focus on balancing the need to account for cross-border transactions, with the wider considerations of data protection and privacy also being taken into account. Money laundering and the financing of terrorist activity can be linked, unfortunately, and we can only successfully counteract the latter by addressing the former. This report makes good progress in this regard, and I am pleased to say I voted in favour of it.

• published: 13 Mar 2014
• views: 1