Negative news and tighter rules governing controversial citizenship-by-investment schemes have led some banks in Cyprus and Malta to review their internal policies for clients holding or acquiring "golden passports," sources say. Since 2005, at least 12 EU nations have started offering citizenship or residency to individuals pledging minimum outlays ranging from €250,000 to more than €10 million into the local economy in programs that have attracted roughly €25 billion in foreign direct investment into real estate and other sectors of the bloc from 2008 to 2018. But the programs, particularly those in Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom and Portugal,...
A largely overlooked provision in the European Union’s latest batch of anti-money laundering standards may place a new burden on compliance officers, say analysts.
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