Sunday, October 18, 2020

What is Anti Money Laundering (AML) / Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) under POSB Know Your Customer (KYC) Norms?




What is AML/CFT under POSB KYC Norms?

Introduction

1.1 Know Your Customer (KYC) Norms/Anti Money Laundering (AML) Measures/Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT)/Obligations under PMLA, 2002 (amended from time to time) The objective of KYC/AML/CFT guidelines is to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing activities by use of Post Office Savings Bank intentionally or unintentionally by criminal elements. KYC procedures also enable to post office Savings Banks to know/understand their customers better which in turn help them manage their risks prudently.

1.2 Definition of Customer

for the purpose of KYC policy, a customer is defined as-

• An individual that maintains an account and/or has a cash certificate or has a business relationship with the Post Office Savings Bank.


• An individual on whose behalf the account is maintained (i.e beneficial owner).
2. Guidelines

2.1 General

All Post Office Savings Banks should keep in mind that information collected from the customer for the purpose of opening of account or purchase of savings certificates is to be treated as confidential and details thereof are not to be divulged for cross selling or any other purposes.

2.2 KYC Policy

Under PMLA provisions, Post Office Savings Bank declares its KYC Policy on the following four elements:-
(a) Customer Acceptance Policy.
(b) Risk Management
(c) Customer Identification Procedure.
(d) Monitoring of Transactions; Recordkeeping and Reporting.

2.3 Customer Acceptance Policy (CAP)

(i) No account is opened in an anonymous or fictitious name/benami.
(ii) Not to open an account or close an existing account where the Post Office Savings Bank is unable to apply appropriate Customer Due Diligence measures i.e unable to verify the identity and/or obtain documents required as prescribed due to non- cooperation of the customer or non-reliability of data/information furnished by the customer. However, the customer should not be harassed and any decision to close the account should be taken by the head of the Postal Division by giving suitable notice to the customer.

KYC norms in POSB/SC under AML/CFT Full version can be download by following the link below.