Palestine Monetary Authority

(2019/269) Circular No. To all banks operating in Palestine Date: Thursday, August 29, 2019

Subject: Preparation for Launching the Banking Accounts KYC Data Base System

Continuing the Palestine Monetary Authority's approach to developing its automated systems and operational procedures to enhance banks' operational risk management environment and preserve financial stability, and with the aim of building a unified and comprehensive demographic database for all banking account customers in Palestine to facilitate account opening procedures and achieve Know Your Customer (KYC) principles when opening or updating accounts, thereby assisting banks in making sound banking decisions when dealing with customers.

During the previous period, and in cooperation with banks, the Authority developed a dedicated system for banking accounts through which demographic data and banking account data for banking sector customers (without deposits) are aggregated and disclosed in the Banking Accounts Report. Additionally, a clause was added to the Returned Cheques Report regarding the disclosure of the number and value of cheques deposited with collection fees.

In light of the system's readiness following the completion of inspection processes with banks, and based on PMA instructions No. (2019/29) dated 2019/2/4, No. (2019/88) dated 2019/4/4, and No. (2019/157) dated 2019/6/24, please be informed and act as follows:

1. Banks are committed to verifying and ensuring that customers have signed the authorization for inquiry and disclosure before executing inquiry processes.
2. Provide the PMA with banking account files for all customers up to August 31, 2019 (Cut-Off Date), to be stored in the Banking Accounts Database for system launch. Banks must also provide the PMA with demographic and banking account files for customers with newly opened accounts or existing customers whose account status is modified, for the period between September 1, 2019, and September 28, 2019, which represents the Gap Period.
3. Provide the PMA with demographic files for customers (individuals and companies) according to the demographic data file structure for individual and corporate accounts as per Annex No. (1) and Annex No. (2).

www.pma.ps

Ramallah & Al-Bireh Governorate - Palestine P.O. Box 452 | info@pma.ps | Fax: +970 2 2415310 | Tel: +970 2 2415251 Gaza - Palestine P.O. Box 4026 | Fax: +970 8 2844487 | Tel: +970 8 2825713

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Palestine Monetary Authority

4. Provide the PMA with banking account files according to the banking account file structure as per Annex No. (3).
5. Provide the PMA with the cheque modification file with collection fees according to the file structure as per Annex No. (4).
6. Banks are committed to archiving all banking account files daily in the system, such that the file report only covers new customers or customers whose accounts were modified/changed on the previous business day.
7. Banks are committed to providing the PMA with the banking accounts system files daily between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM for the previous business day's reporting.
8. Any file containing errors will be rejected and returned to the bank for correction, as the system does not accept migrating any files containing errors.
9. Banks may update the demographic data of their customers whose data is available in the Banking Accounts System database by using the customer data update request screen as per Annex No. (5).
10. The use of the Banking Accounts Report is restricted to banks only, and providing a copy of the report to customers is not permitted.
11. A new field has been added to the Returned Cheques Report to disclose the number and value of cheques deposited with collection fees at the bank and at the individual customer account level.
12. Banks shall commence creating user permissions for the Banking Accounts System users starting from September 15, 2019, within the user permissions system according to the following system functions:

    Demographic data loading screen for individuals. Demographic data loading screen for companies. Banking accounts data loading screen. Collection fees cheques data loading screen. Customer data update screen. Banking accounts inquiry.

www.pma.ps

Ramallah & Al-Bireh Governorate - Palestine P.O. Box 452 | info@pma.ps | Fax: +970 2 2415310 | Tel: +970 2 2415251 Gaza - Palestine P.O. Box 4026 | Fax: +970 8 2844487 | Tel: +970 8 2825713

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Palestine Monetary Authority

13. Adherence to the procedures specified in the timeline below, which represents the preparation steps for the official system launch:

Date	Procedure
2019/08/31	Cut-Off Date for Banking Accounts Data: Banks are committed to providing us with data for all existing and new customers until the end of business on August 31, 2019.
2019/9/10-8	Send demographic data files for individuals and companies to the PMA.
2019/9/15-11	Send banking accounts data files to the PMA.
2019/9/25 -15	Commence adding permissions for users through the user permissions system.
2019/9/28-16	Processing period for banking account files by the PMA in cooperation with banks.
2019/09/29	Upload customer data for the period from September 1, 2019, to September 28, 2019, which represents the Disclosure Gap Period.

Accordingly, bank management is requested to disseminate the guidelines attached to this circular to relevant departments and potential system users to assist them in familiarizing themselves with the system and using it properly. Upon completion of the procedure steps specified in the table above, the system will be officially launched on September 29, 2019.

Market Discipline Department
Palestine Monetary Authority

www.pma.ps

Ramallah & Al-Bireh Governorate - Palestine P.O. Box 452 | info@pma.ps | Fax: +970 2 2415310 | Tel: +970 2 2415251 Gaza - Palestine P.O. Box 4026 | Fax: +970 8 2844487 | Tel: +970 8 2825713

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Guidelines Instructions for Using the "Banking Accounts" System

First: Customer Demographic Data

Customer demographic files (individuals-companies) are used to add data for new customers and/or modify demographic data for previously disclosed customers, as follows:

Mandatory fields for individuals, companies, and entities with no data (as they have been dormant accounts for a long time and their data cannot be updated/completed) should be filled with (N/A) for text fields, (0) for numeric fields, and (1980/01/01) for date fields.

In case company founder data is unavailable as required by the guidelines circular, authorized signatory data for the company shall be disclosed.

Disclosure of demographic and banking account data is permitted only from the start date of January 1, 2016.

Disclosure of the ID card expiry date (for residents) is set at ten years from the issue date. Note that the fields (Place of Issue, Issue Date, Expiry Date) are mandatory for non-residents holding passports or any other documents other than the ID card.

Procedure for Using the Individual Demographic Data Loading Screen:

1. Click the Banking Accounts icon
2. Select Load Individual Demographic Data
3. Click the Load icon
4. Click the Browse icon
5. Select the file to be loaded
6. Click the Save icon
7. A message will appear stating that the file has been uploaded
8. Select the file row to be processed
9. Click the Process File icon
10. A message (Are you sure?) will appear; click OK
11. Upon completion of file processing, the total number of file rows and the number of correct rows will be displayed
12. A message stating "File processed" will appear.

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Procedure for Using the Company Demographic Data Loading Screen:

1. Click the Banking Accounts icon

2. Select Load Company Demographic Data

3. Click the Load icon

4. Click the Browse icon

5. Select the file to be loaded

6. Click the Save icon

7. A message will appear stating that the file has been uploaded

8. Select the file row to be processed

9. Click the Process File icon

10. A message (Are you sure?) will appear; click OK

11. Upon completion of file processing, the total number of file rows and the number of correct rows will be displayed

12. A message stating "File processed" will appear.

13. To extract an error report, select the row and click the File Errors icon

14. The Errors screen will appear

15. To extract the error report as a PDF, click the Extract Report icon

16. To extract the error report as an XLS, click the Extract Report icon

17. After correcting the errors in the file, the uploaded file must be cancelled from the system.

18. To cancel the file, select the row to be cancelled and click the Cancel File icon

19. Repeat the file upload and processing steps until the file is error-free, then send it to the PMA.

20. To send the file to the PMA after completing processing and resolving errors, click the Send File icon.

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Second: Banking Accounts Data

Banking account files are used to add banking account data for new customers and/or modify banking account data (account status, account type) for previously disclosed customers, as follows:

Disclosure of the number and value of cheques with collection fees is permitted for the first time only in the banking account file as per Annex No. (3), and subsequent disclosure in modification/update cases for these two items is done in the collection fees cheques data modification file as required (Annex No. 4).

Disclosure of the last data update date: The date of the last transaction on the account shall be disclosed, and if the information is unavailable, the account opening date shall be disclosed.

Bank and branch numbers used in the Credit Information System shall be disclosed in the banking account file.

Procedure for Using the Banking Accounts Loading Screen:

1. Click the Banking Accounts icon
2. Select Load Banking Accounts Data
3. Click the Load icon
4. Click the Browse icon
5. Select the file to be loaded
6. Click the Save icon
7. A message will appear stating that the file has been uploaded
8. Select the file row to be processed
9. Click the Process File icon
10. A message (Are you sure?) will appear; click OK
11. Upon completion of file processing, the total number of file rows and the number of correct rows will be displayed
12. A message stating "File processed" will appear.
13. To extract an error report, select the row and click the File Errors icon

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Third: Modification of Cheques Deposited with Collection Fees Data

The collection fees cheques modification files screen is used to modify the value and number of cheques deposited with collection fees on a daily basis, as follows:

Procedure for Using the Collection Fees Cheques Data Modification Screen:

1. Click the Banking Accounts icon
2. Select Load/Update Collection Fees Cheques
3. Click the Load icon
4. Click the Browse icon
5. Select the file to be loaded
6. Click the Save icon
7. A message will appear stating that the file has been uploaded
8. Select the file row to be processed
9. Click the Process File icon
10. A message (Are you sure?) will appear; click OK
11. Upon completion of file processing, the total number of file rows and the number of correct rows will be displayed
12. A message stating "File processed" will appear.
13. To extract an error report, select the row and click the File Errors icon
14. The Errors screen will appear
15. To extract the error report as a PDF, click the Extract Report icon
16. To extract the error report as an XLS, click the Extract Report icon
17. After correcting the errors in the file, the uploaded file must be cancelled from the system.
18. To cancel the file, select the row to be cancelled and click the Cancel File icon
19. Repeat the file upload and processing steps until the file is error-free, then send it to the PMA.
20. To send the file to the PMA after completing processing and resolving errors, click the Send File icon.

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Fourth: Customer Data Update File

The customer data update screen is used to obtain the demographic data for the bank's customers that is available and updated as of the current date in the PMA's Banking Accounts Database.

Adopt the customer data update file structure according to the data update file structure in Annex No. (5)

Files are divided based on the identification type, such that the individual file is loaded separately from the company file.

Procedure for Using the Customer Data Update File Loading Screen:

1. Click the Banking Accounts icon
2. Select Load Customer Data Update File
3. Click the Load Customer Data File icon, according to Annex No. (5)
4. Select the identification type (Individuals or Companies)
5. Click the Browse icon
6. Select the file to be loaded
7. Click the Save icon
8. Customer data will appear on the screen
9. To save customer data as an XLS file, click the Extract Report icon

Fifth: Banking Accounts Inquiry