Bank of Lithuania adopted new instructions on AML-CFT

Danuta Pavilenene, BC, Vilnius, 20.05.2008.

The Board of the Bank of Lithuania adopted new instructions for credit institutions aimed at the prevention of money laundering and/or terrorist financing, the Bank announced.

The document regulates the prevention of not only money laundering, but also terrorist financing, implementation of the risk-based method, procedure for the simplified and stricter verification of customer’s identity. Special attention is paid to suspicious, unusual and complex monetary transactions and operations, informs LETA/ELTA.

The instructions emphasize the cases when credit institutions must take measures and identify and verify the identity of a customer or a beneficiary, including: before performing one-off or several interrelated monetary operations or concluding transactions that exceed the amount of EUR 15,000 or an equivalent amount in foreign currency, irrespective of the performance of the transaction in one or several interrelated operations; before exchanging cash, if the amount of the cash exchanged exceeds EUR 6,000 or an equivalent amount in foreign currency.

Credit institutions must classify customers to risk groups according to the respective criteria and procedures established in their internal documents. According to the instructions, the creation of a comprehensive "portrait" of a customer is one of the main elements ensuring efficient management of the risk of money laundering and/or terrorist financing.

Credit institutions are required, among other things, to verify whether their customer is not included in the consolidated list of persons, their groups and enterprises and institutions to which financial sanctions of the European Union are imposed. Credit institutions are prohibited to start and continue correspondent banking or other relationships with fictitious banks.

It is established in which cases credit institutions must suspend suspicious and unusual monetary operations and inform about it the Financial Crime Investigation Service under the Ministry of the Interior.

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/finances/&doc=1737