The EUMCC is the driving force in implementing policies and enforcing law (jointly with the Court of Justice) in tackling the menace of Money Laundering and other related illicit financial activities in the European Financial Institutions.. Since the events of September 11, 2001, law enforcement measures against money laundering have been expanded and modified ,Law enforcement agencies presently focus not only on money laundering involving offshore practices through wire transfers, but also on cash-based forms of money laundering. Such cash forms of money laundering have been found to be more prevalent in cases involving certain international terrorist groups.

The EUMCC Monetary Control Commission was established post September 11, 2006 to plan, reviews, and coordinates criminal investigations involving Financial Systems Crimes, including bank fraud; access device fraud; telemarketing; telecommunications fraud (cellular and hard wire); computer fraud; automated payment systems and teller machines; direct deposit; investigations of forgery, uttering, alteration, false personating, or false claims involving Checks, Savings Bonds, Treasury Notes, bonds, and bills; electronic funds transfer (EFT) including Treasury disbursements and fraud within local and international payment systems; fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents and fraudulent commercial, fictitious instruments, foreign securities.

The fact that a criminal activity is formally prohibited and criminalized by law or international convention is insufficient in establishing an effective prohibition regime. Laws and regulations also need to rely on specialized enforcement agencies. With respect to crimes with important international dimensions, such as in the case of money laundering, additional enforcement issues are posed at an international level. Because it is a hidden and technically sophisticated crime that often transcends the boundaries of national jurisdiction, money laundering is not easily policed with conventional means of law enforcement. Within nations, money laundering is the subject of law enforcement activities both as part of existing police responsibilities and as a function of new specialized agencies.

In the current era of globalization, where crimes of money laundering often cross jurisdictional borders, relevant law enforcement strategies should transcend borders as well. National money laundering laws have important international law enforcement dimensions. money laundering activities are conceived as threats to international security, whereby the governments in some countries are seen as unable to withstand the risks or avoid the temptation of illegitimate monetary transactions in their economies .

Law enforcement agencies have responded to this situation by setting up so-called sting operations in vulnerable foreign countries, often without the consent of the governments of these countries.

Besides transnational operations unilaterally conducted by an agency of one nation and cooperative efforts among law enforcement agencies representing a limited number of countries, there are also multilateral enforcement strategies against money laundering. The Basel Committees Statement of Principles of 1988 already emphasized the need for nations across the world to comply with money laundering laws and to cooperate with law enforcement. As a result, specialized units have been established in national and international law enforcement and security communities to adequately police money laundering measures. The 1991 directive of the European Union, for instance, led to the creation of Financial Intelligence Units to exchange information with one another

At the international level, special attention must go to the efforts against money laundering overseen by some private institutions who also play a role in the enforcement of money laundering policies. Specifically, because many national and international policies concerning money laundering involve transactions via banks, these financial institutions take part in the effective enforcement of money laundering policies .

The financial world has been called into the service of the law enforcement community, and money laundering measures often hold banks accountable for enhanced record-keeping. Generally, banks have been willing to play this role of law enforcement agent because compliance with regulations allows them to maintain their reputation and respectability. Nevertheless, sometimes banks have been less than cooperative in reporting illegal activities. Suspicious transactions can go unreported in that banks profit from any monetary transaction whether legal or illegal.