The American writer Gertrude Stein said that it was the ability to understand and count money that differentiated humans from other animals. 1 A conventional definition of money is that it is a "medium of exchange" – we use it as the basic tool to settle commercial transactions.
In order to improve cooperation between both sets of supervisors, the latest amendment to the AML Directive required the ECB to sign an agreement setting out the practical modalities for exchanging information with the AML/CFT supervisors of credit and financial institutions within the European Economic Area. This agreement was signed in January this year.