Govt seeks anti-money laundering compliance info from brokers

Distributors were asked to provide details of their compliance with the various requirements in the fight against money laundering as the government intensifies its efforts to address the threat of black money.

As part of the fight against Shell companies, the Ministry of Finance requested detailed information on dealers to understand their compliance levels in terms of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations.

Following a directive from the Ministry of Economy, market regulator Sebi has asked the dealers to present the relevant details of the same month.

Information was sought on the areas of "Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML and CFT) to assess technical compliance with FATF global recommendations and the effectiveness of AML / CFT systems."

Details must be provided by distributors during the last three years.

As required by Sebi, Premier EEB asked traders registered with him to provide the information.

Details are to be submitted for 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, according to a circular issued by the BSE.

Distributors must keep data updated in a separate format prescribed for each fiscal year.

Brokers should receive information on the total number of employees in the organization, number of employees certified in AML / CFT areas, percentage of employees who received "in-house" training in AML / CFT areas and percentage employees Who are familiar with the investigations of the AML / CFT guidelines for each of the last three financial years.

The total number of employees includes administrative and supervisory frameworks at senior management level, but should exclude executives and senior officials.

"In-house training indicates sessions lasting at least an hour in the ALM / CFT areas, carried out by the organization for the benefit of its employees as part of its internal learning training programs / workshops," said EEB said.

"Employees who are familiar with the AML / CFT guidelines can be determined from conducting surveys in different areas and regions. Research reports should include the size of the study group. To this return, "he added.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body, sets a global standard for money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations of governments around the world. India has been a member since 2010.

The FATF Recommendations are recognized as the global AML / CFT standard.