The European Union agreed on a proposal that will boost the European Banking Authority's role in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing in the financial sector.

The EU's Dec. 19 proposal will permit the EBA to "directly" take decisions about banks, coordinate among national supervisory authorities and perform risk assessments related to money laundering.

The rules will have to be approved by the European Parliament before they can be adopted and applied.

The agreement comes at the end of a year blighted by money-laundering revelations involving European lenders. In the most high-profile case, Danske Bank A/S is accused of allowing up to €200 billion of suspicious payments to flow through its Estonia branch — money that was allegedly cleared by Deutsche Bank AG.