Central Bank issues first in series of Anti-Money Laundering bulletins

• Guidance on the use of third parties as part of Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism frameworks.
• Guidance based on thematic on-site inspections of firms across a number of sectors
• All firms expected to consider the issues highlighted.

The Central Bank has issued a number of Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) sectoral reports, the most recent of which was published in March 2016. This bulletin, the first in a series, focuses on a specific key cross sectoral area of AML/CFT compliance. Future bulletins may cover similar cross sectoral or sectoral specific areas, as issues arise as part of the Central Bank’s ongoing engagement with firms.

Head of Anti-Money Laundering at the Central Bank Domhnall Cullinan said:

The Central Bank’s publications have focused to date on the “what and how” of AML/CFT compliance. Physical, social, environmental and economic consequences arise from money laundering/terrorist financing and have significant negative effects on transparency and good governance and this is the reason why national and international policymakers have put AML/CFT obligations in place.

The Board and Senior Management of a firm is responsible for ensuring that their firm  is not used for money laundering/terrorist financing purposes and accordingly must ensure that their money laundering/terrorist financing risk assessment identifies the specific risks faced by the firm. The Board and Senior Management must then put in place an AML/CFT compliance programme that not only ensures compliance with the relevant legislation, but where necessary includes further action to mitigate any specific and unique vulnerability that the firm might have to money laundering/terrorist financing.

The Central Bank expects all firms to carefully consider the issues highlighted in this bulletin, and to use the information to inform the continued development of their AML/CFT framework.

In relation to Third Party Reliance, the Central Bank expects:

• That there is a signed agreement in place between the firm and the third party;
• Firms only rely on third parties to perform Customer Due Diligence;
• Firms should conduct regular assurance testing to ensure documentation can be retrieved quickly and without undue delay, and that the quality of the underlying documents obtained is sufficient.