Euro MPs have approved a new deal to allow US anti-terror investigators to access Europeans' bank data. The agreement was passed with 484 votes in favour and 109 against. There were 12 abstentions. <br/><br/>The vote followed tough negotiations with US authorities after a previous agreement was blocked by the European Parliament in February. The deal gives the US access to bulk data from Swift, a firm that handles millions of bank transactions daily. <br/><br/>Washington says the Swift deal is crucial to fighting terrorism, as part of the US Terrorist Financing Tracking Programme set up after the September 2001 attacks on the US. <br/><br/>Top US officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, lobbied the EU over the data transfer deal. The European Commission says under the new deal, the EU police agency Europol will assess whether specific data requests are necessary for the fight against terrorism before the data is sent to the US. The Commission will appoint EU officials to monitor the US investigators' actions.