OTHER OBLIGATIONS OF A REPORTING ENTITY
In addition to a reporting entity’s obligation to submit reports to the FIU, the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism legislation imposes a number of other obligations on reporting entities.
These other obligations include:
- Carrying out an assessment of the money laundering and terrorist financing risk your entity may reasonably expect to face.
- Appointing an AML/CFT compliance officer or designating a person to carry out the entity’s compliance function.
- Designing, implementing and maintaining an AML/CFT compliance programme that sets out procedures, policies, and internal controls for, among other things:
- screening and training of all employees;
- carrying out due diligence on customers (CDD) – includes customer identification and verification;
- undertaking monitoring and enhanced due diligence for high risk customers;
- reporting suspicious transactions (STRs);
- submission of terrorist property reports (TPRs);
- effective record-keeping;
- ongoing risk assessment and risk management and risk mitigation programmes, including risk assessment for new products, business practices and delivery mechanisms; and
- keeping update to date with new or developing technologies for new and pre-existing products or services.
- Ensuring independent audits and reviews of your entity’s Risk Assessment and AML/CFT Programme are conducted.
- Ensuring that AML/CFT related training is provided to all persons involved in the management of your entity as well as key staff on an ongoing basis.
- Maintaining record of verification of identity of customers; record of customers transactions; as well as a register of ML/TF enquires by the FIU, the Special Organised Crime Unit or other competent authority.
- Ensuring that AML/CFT related training is provided to all persons involved in management of the entity as well as key staff on an ongoing basis.
- Where applicable, reporting entities (financial institutions and money transfer agencies) should obtain the originator or sender’s information and other relevant information for all electronic funds-transfers facilitated by the entity.
- Maintaining records or a register of ML/TF enquires made by the FIU, the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) or any other competent authority.
All records must be kept by the reporting entity for seven (7) years from the date the relevant transaction was completed, or from the date the business relationship with the customer was terminated, whichever is later. All records must also be capable of retrieval in readable form without undue delay.
