US, EU banking data sharing deal to make people safer: Obama



US, EU banking data sharing deal to make people safer: Obama Washington: US President Barack Obama on Thursday said the deal between the Washington and the EU to tap into banking data for terrorism related investigations would make people safer, as he vowed to protect privacy and civil liberties.

Obama welcomed the decision of European Parliament to join the Council and Commission of the European Union in approving a revised agreement between the United States and the European Union on the processing and transfer of financial messaging data for the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP).

"The threat of terrorism faced by the United States and the European Union continues and, with this agreement, all of our citizens will be safer," he said.

"We look forward to the Council's completion of the process, allowing the agreement to enter into force on August 1, 2010, thus fully restoring this important counterterrorism tool and resuming the sharing of investigative data that has been suspended since January 2010," he said in a statement.

Noting that protecting privacy and civil liberties is a top priority of the Obama Administration, he said: "We are determined to protect citizens of all nations while also upholding fundamental rights, using every legitimate tool available to combat terrorism that is consistent with our laws and principles."

The Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme allowed US access to information from the interbank money transfer system SWIFT, which is based in Brussels.

The US will again have access to the banking information from August 1 after European MPs voted 484-109 in favour of a new five-year deal that was signed by Brussels and Washington last week.

The TFTP has provided critical investigative leads -- more than 1,550 to EU Member States -- since its creation after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the president said.

These leads have aided countries around the world in preventing or investigating many of the past decade's most visible and violent terrorist attacks and attempted attacks, including Bali (2002), Madrid (2004), London (2005), the liquids bomb plot against transatlantic aircraft (2006), New York's John F. Kennedy airport (2007), Germany (2007), Mumbai (2008), and Jakarta (2009), he said.

"This new, legally binding agreement reflects significant additional data privacy safeguards but still retains the effectiveness and integrity of this indispensable counterterrorism program," Obama said.

PTI