The end of anonymous banking in the Czech Republic was brought one step closer earlier this month as a result of amendments to the country's Banking Act.
New provisions have stipulated that at the end of this year, banking clients with anonymous 'sparbuch' accounts (also previously popular in Austria and Hungary) will be unable to deposit any more funds into their accounts, although according to reports they will have until 2012 to transfer the money into a different type of account.
Although the new legislation has been welcomed by the international community, many finance experts see it as an exercise in unnecessary bureaucracy in order to secure EU membership, and believe that the money laundering risks associated with this type of account have traditionally been very small.
Speaking to the Central Europe Business News service earlier this week, Josef Bazant, from the Czech Finance Ministry's Financial Analytical Department (FAU), which monitors money laundering activity taking place in the country, explained:
'This type of account does not fit in with the normal pattern of money laundering, where the money is transferred from account to account. There is no way to carry out any cash-free transaction. Furthermore, for any transaction over Kc100,000 - or in any case where money laundering is suspected - client identification is required.'
However, other Czech finance professionals see the move as a necessary evil in order to appease the EU, and argue that there is little point in putting up a fight given that Austria attempted to oppose the European Union and FATF on the issue and was thwarted.
'This is not a product of the 21st century,' Radomir Jac, an analyst at the Czech branch of Commerzbank explained to Central Europe Business News. ' They were never set up with money laundering in mind, but their very anonymity makes them a risky product. And even if the scope for abuse is small, it still puts them on the list of products that can be easily abused.'
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