Luanda - The National Bank of Angola (BNA) recently instructed financial institutions to limit business relationships or financial operations with people from countries with a very high risk of money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
These are countries such as the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran, high-risk jurisdictions suspected of the application of countermeasures indicated on the FATF-Financial Action Group website, which has kept the list of these countries unchanged since the February 2020 plenary session.
According to Circular-Letter nr.5-2023 of 11 July, which ANGOP had access to, the guidance follows the FATF plenary meeting, which took place from 21 to 23 June this year, which defined policies for the prevention and interruption of financial flows that sustain crime and terrorism.
In this context, within the framework of the BNA Circular, the countermeasures to be applied by the financial institutions also mention the evaluation or alteration, if necessary, ceasing correspondence relations with the institutions of the countries in question.
The Central Bank also advises on the need to impose external audit obligations on financial groups in relation to their branches and subsidiaries located in the countries in question.
“Do not resort to third parties located in the countries in question to carry out segments of the due diligence process relating to customers”, reads in the Circular Letter signed by the director of the BNA's Financial Conduct Department, Osvaldo Manuel Pedro dos Santos.
Still according to the Circular Letter, financial institutions are advised to adapt measures of reinforced due diligence, under the terms of nr. 1 of article 28 of the Law on Preventing and Combating Money Laundering (05/20, of 27 January) and examined with special care, all business relations, occasional transactions and operations involving the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, according to the FATF, is a jurisdiction subject to a special weighting of the risks associated with it.
“If you understand that the measures of reinforced due diligence applied or apply are not sufficient, consider not or termination of the business relationship or transactions”, it reads.
For countries or jurisdictions under continuous monitoring, the BNA guides the application of enhanced due diligence measures, which prove to be proportionate to the concretely identified risk, within the framework of the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering.
The list includes countries such as Albania, Barbados, United Arab Emirates, Burkina Faso, Cayman Islands, Gilbatar, Haiti, Yemen, Jamaica, Jordan, Mali, Panama, Philippines, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, Croatia and Vietnam.
The BNA justifies the need to protect the international financial system from the risks associated with money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. NE/DOJ
