BSS, Dhaka :
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Thursday issued a risk assessment guideline for all banks to help them check money laundering and terror financing.
Titled “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment Guidelines for Banking Sector”, the guideline is issued to comply with the Rule 21 of Money Laundering Prevention Rules (MLPR) 2013, BB said in a directive.
According to the existing rules, the guideline suggested all banks to conduct periodic risk assessment and forward the same to the BFIU for vetting.
Referring to the Recommendation 1 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), BB said financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions would also required to identify, assess and take effective action to mitigate their money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
This guideline will provide the basic ideas of identifying, assessing and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks that banks may encounter in doing their businesses. It would also help banks to allocate their resources efficiently to comply with Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in Bangladesh.
According to the instruction of risk mitigation, banks have to apply enhanced due diligence in high risk scenario and simplified due diligence in case of low risk scenario. According to the guideline, banks would require to identify the business risks and/or regulatory risks. In order to treat those identified risks banks shall assess the level of risks by blending likelihood and impact of the risks. Banks shall put AML&CFT program in place to conduct periodic risk assessment.
The central bank, however, said that this guideline shall be treated as minimum instructions and indications to identify and assess the risk of Money Laundering/Terror Financing (ML/TF) in their businesses and take effective measures to mitigate the identified risk. Banks are allowed to use more stringent tools to identify and assess the risk of ML & TF in their entities.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Thursday issued a risk assessment guideline for all banks to help them check money laundering and terror financing.
Titled “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment Guidelines for Banking Sector”, the guideline is issued to comply with the Rule 21 of Money Laundering Prevention Rules (MLPR) 2013, BB said in a directive.
According to the existing rules, the guideline suggested all banks to conduct periodic risk assessment and forward the same to the BFIU for vetting.
Referring to the Recommendation 1 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), BB said financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions would also required to identify, assess and take effective action to mitigate their money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
This guideline will provide the basic ideas of identifying, assessing and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks that banks may encounter in doing their businesses. It would also help banks to allocate their resources efficiently to comply with Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures in Bangladesh.
According to the instruction of risk mitigation, banks have to apply enhanced due diligence in high risk scenario and simplified due diligence in case of low risk scenario. According to the guideline, banks would require to identify the business risks and/or regulatory risks. In order to treat those identified risks banks shall assess the level of risks by blending likelihood and impact of the risks. Banks shall put AML&CFT program in place to conduct periodic risk assessment.
The central bank, however, said that this guideline shall be treated as minimum instructions and indications to identify and assess the risk of Money Laundering/Terror Financing (ML/TF) in their businesses and take effective measures to mitigate the identified risk. Banks are allowed to use more stringent tools to identify and assess the risk of ML & TF in their entities.
