BRUSSELS, July 13 (UPI) -- The European Commission Wednesday proposed a system to replace the lead U.S. role in tracing terrorist financing.
"The European Union needed to find a European solution for extracting the requested data on European soil," said Cecilia Malmstrom, EU commissioner for home affairs.
Her proposals are a response to criticism that sending raw financial records to the United States for examination threatens European privacy standards, The New York Times reported.
A European system must respect fundamental rights and guarantee data protection, Malmstrom said. In particular, it would limit the amount of personal data transferred.
The commission already has discussed its plans for a European Terrorist Finance Tracking System with U.S. authorities.
The current program gives American agents access to European banking data held by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a cooperative that routes trillions of dollars daily among banks, brokerage houses, stock exchanges and other institutions.
