Brexit Throws a Wrench Into EU’s Fight Against Money Laundering

The U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union is complicating the bloc’s fight against money laundering in the financial system, according to EU authorities.

Firms relocating from Britain could overwhelm the national bodies that supervise anti-money laundering systems, the three EU financial regulators said in a joint report published Friday. A no-deal Brexit would make things even more difficult by disrupting the exchange of information between supervisors, they said.

There’s a risk that authorities “may not be adequately equipped and staffed to effectively oversee significant numbers of new firms,” and that the robustness of supervision “might suffer as a result,” the ...