US can ignore the EU and still access SWIFT data, commission says

US can ignore the EU and still access SWIFT data, commission saysDue to the  SWIFT agreement ,The United States could still access European Union citizens' bank transfer data by cutting deals with individual European governments, despite a European

Parliament rejection of this practice. SWIFT agreement allowed the United States to analyses EU citizens' bank transfers for anti-terrorism investigations, and then provide EU

governments with intelligence on suspicious transactions.

A nine-month interim version of the deal came into force on February 1. But on Thursday, EU deputies in Strasbourg decided to reject it.

 European Commission spokesman Michele Cercone said," We now have to see with our American partners what are the possibilities of a new agreement: contacts are ongoing, but at this point I

cannot announce anything."

Cercone further said," Nothing stops a third country (such as the US) to negotiate a bilateral agreement with an EU member state or with another European country."

Bilateral deals would likely be struck with Belgium, where the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is legally based, or with the Netherlands, where the

company holds one of its servers.

SWIFT is a consortium owned by banks and financial institutions that records international money transfers. In 2006, it emerged that US agencies accessed its data from a server the company

held in Virginia, raising EU concerns about privacy rights. (With Input from Agencies)