Jul 28 2009 Direct News
The European Union's 27 member states have unanimously backed a proposal to give US terrorism investigators greater access to data collected by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) transfer system. Under an existing agreement, the US Treasury already has access to Swift's American database, the Associated Press states.
Officials in both Brussels and Washington claim that having access to this information has helped them to block international money transfers intended to fund terrorist organisations and to trace suspects.
The Swift consortium of banks is opening a new data centre in Switzerland to focus on European clients and EU foreign ministers have backed the negotiation of a new deal to continue the data sharing arrangements.
EU justice and home affairs commissioner Jacques Barrot said: "It would be extremely dangerous at this stage to stop the surveillance and the monitoring of information flows."
Swift currently handles around 14 million transactions a day between banks and other financial institutions across the globe.
The consortium was formed in Brussels in 1973 by 239 banks from 15 countries.
