By Thanasis Koukakis
In a high-level meeting held in Athens on Wednesday, top compliance officers from the Greek branches of major international auditing firms—including PwC, EY, Deloitte, KPMG, Grant Thornton, and SOL—met with senior officials from Greece’s financial crime watchdog to strengthen cooperation in the fight against money laundering and illicit financial activities.
The talks were led by Haralambos Vourliotis, President of the Hellenic Authority for Combating Money Laundering, and Panagiotis Giannopoulos, President of the Accounting Standardization and Audit Committee. Also in attendance was Stathis Tsirbas, General Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority.
The meeting focused on enhancing transparency and accountability in the audit sector, improving mechanisms for the prevention and detection of suspicious financial transactions, aligning with international auditing standards, and reinforcing efforts to combat both money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Officials also discussed issues related to declarations of assets by individuals in positions of financial or political influence.
Vourliotis called on the auditing firms to maintain their proactive approach in filing reports on suspicious transactions—an area in which audit firms have outperformed other professional sectors in Greece, such as notaries and lawyers, according to authorities.
Meanwhile, compliance leaders from the audit firms urged better communication with the Authority’s second operational unit, the Financial Sanctions Unit. This unit is responsible for enforcing asset freezes and related financial restrictions stemming from United Nations Security Council resolutions and European Union regulations.
