ECB's Nouy says lacks powers to investigate money laundering

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank defended its supervisory work on Thursday, arguing that it has no power to uncover money laundering even at lenders under its direct supervision.

The ECB is under fire over its handling of Latvian lender ABLV, which US authorities have acused of engaging in large-scale money laundering for Russian clients.

"Breaches of anti-money laundering can be symptomatic of more deeply rooted governance deficiencies within a bank but the ECB does not have the investigative powers to uncover such deficiencies," ECB Bank supervisory chief Daniele Nouy said in a statement. "This is the task of national anti-money laundering authorities."