THE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, approved the amendments to the regulations of the anti-money laundering law that combat the financing of terrorism as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s financial system.
“This is part of the BSP’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the financial system’s safeguards against money laundering and terrorist financing balanced against the objective of also promoting financial inclusion of the unbanked,” the board said in a statement Friday.
“The revised regulations emphasize the importance of a sound money laundering/terrorist financing risk assessment, the foundation of a proportionate, risk-based approach, to appropriately focus greater efforts and resources on areas posing higher risks, while reducing these for low-risk transactions,” the board said.
Requirements for group-wide anti-money laundering compliance function and monitoring systems are incorporated for a holistic management and prevention of the risks.
The amendments feature refinements in the conduct of customer due diligence, more pragmatic definition of “official document” and the use of other reliable, independent source documents, data or information for customer identification and verification.
The new rules also introduced the concept of a “restricted account” to cater to targeted unbanked sector, where minimal customer information are required subject to certain conditions, such as constraints in terms of activity.
“These will provide much greater flexibility in on-boarding unbanked customers, especially in rural areas where official IDs are not prevalent. With the advent of new technologies in the financial system, the new rules recognize and allow the use of information and communication technology in the conduct of customer identification subject to implementation of appropriate measures to manage attendant risks,” the board said.