Important information on AML/CFT legal obligations
You have made the first step to being compliant. Now that you are registered, there are other legal obligations you are required to implement. The FIU has summed these into seven areas:
- Compliance Officer and alternate Compliance Officer
- Compliance Programme
- AML/CFT Training
- Risk Based Approach
- Internal Controls
- Reporting Obligations:
- Suspicious Transaction/Activity
- Terrorist Funds
- Independent Testing
AML-CFT Obligations for Registered Supervised Entities
Record Keeping
Financial institutions and listed businesses must retain the following records in electronic or written form for a period of six (6) years:
- All domestic and international transactions;
- Identification data obtained through the customer due diligence process;
- Account files and business correspondence; and
- The results of analysis undertaken related to an account transaction.
This obligation will enable the financial institutions and listed business to comply with lawful requests from information from auditors, other competent authorities and law enforcement authorities for the purposes of criminal investigations or prosecution of persons charged with criminal offences.
There are registers that the Compliance Officer of the financial institution and listed business should maintain. These registers should contain information that can be accessed by senior management or the auditor. Therefore, sensitive information on suspects or confidential correspondence must not be included in the register. Some of these registers include:
No | Register | Recommended Content |
1 | Training Register | Date and time of training; Name of facilitator; Name of participant; Topics covered Signature of attendee |
2 | Internal STR Register | Date submitted by staff; Nature of suspicion; Value of transaction; Date reviewed by Compliance Officer |
3 | STR Register | Date submitted to FIU; Nature of suspicion; Value of transaction; Signature of Compliance Officer |
4 | LEA Register | Date and nature of enquiry; Name of agency and enquiring officer; Powers being exercised |