2012-04-25
The National Bank of Angola issued Notice No. 21/2012 to regulate non-bank financial institutions' compliance with the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Law. The notice mandates comprehensive customer due diligence, including strict identification requirements for individuals and corporate entities, continuous transaction monitoring, and the appointment of a Compliance Officer. It establishes detailed procedures for verifying beneficial owners, managing occasional transactions exceeding USD 15,000, and delegating identification duties to third parties while maintaining regulatory oversight.
NOTICE NO. 21/2012
Pursuant to the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention) of 2000, approved by the National Assembly through Resolution No. 21/10 of June 22, as well as other resolutions that may be approved; Considering the entry into force of Law No. 34/11 of December 12, which establishes preventive and repressive measures to combat money laundering from illicit sources and terrorist financing; Given the need to implement a system for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, which includes establishing Customer Due Diligence ("CDD") procedures and the requirements for establishing business relationships and in the context of occasional transactions, adapting them to new identification and customer knowledge requirements, as well as monitoring business relationships by non-bank financial institutions; Given, likewise, the need to establish adequate controls for the effective mitigation of money laundering and terrorist financing risks to which they are subject; In accordance with the combined provisions of paragraph f) of Article 21(1) and paragraph d) of Article 51(1), both of Law No. 16/10 of July 15 - National Bank of Angola Law, combined with Article 70 of Law No. 13/05 of September 30 - Financial Institutions Law;
DETERMINE: CHAPTER I General Provisions Article 1. Object Pursuant to Article 36 of Law No. 34/11 of December 12 - Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Law, the National Bank of Angola regulates through this notice the conditions for exercising the obligations provided in said Law, namely the identification and diligence obligations, as well as the establishment of a money laundering and terrorist financing prevention system, including the creation of a Compliance Officer in the organizational structure of non-bank financial institutions.
Article 2. Scope The norms contained in this notice apply to non-bank financial institutions under the supervision of the National Bank of Angola, as per Article 5(1) of Law No. 13/05 of September 30 - Financial Institutions Law: a) Exchange houses; b) Credit cooperative societies; c) Financial assignment companies; d) Leasing companies; e) Intermediary societies for money or foreign exchange markets; f) Microcredit companies; g) Payment service providers; h) Operating societies for payment, clearing or clearing house systems, as per the Angolan Payment System Law;
i) Other societies qualified as such by law.
Article 3. Definitions Without prejudice to the definitions established in Article 2 of Law No. 34/11 of December 12, for the purposes of this notice, it is understood that:
Agent - an individual or collective person who undertakes to promote, on behalf of another, the conclusion of contracts, autonomously, stably and for remuneration, only being able to conclude contracts if the latter has granted them the necessary powers in writing.
Customer - an individual, a collective entity or any other legal entity with which the financial institution establishes or has established a business relationship or carries out an occasional transaction.
Compliance Officer - the person responsible for implementing the money laundering and terrorist financing prevention system, including their internal control procedures, and also responsible for centralizing information and reporting operations susceptible to money laundering and terrorist financing to the Financial Information Unit and other competent authorities.
Suspicious operations - operations that may constitute the crime of money laundering or terrorist financing.
Non-profit organizations - a legal entity or organization primarily engaged in the creation and/or distribution of funds for non-profit purposes, namely charity, social solidarity, religious purposes, among others.
Representative - any person or entity with legal powers to act on behalf of another;
Foreign exchange resident and non-resident: a) foreign exchange resident - considered foreign exchange residents in national territory:
i) individuals with habitual residence in the country; ii) collective entities with headquarters in the country; iii) branches, subsidiaries, agencies or any forms of representation in the country of collective entities with headquarters abroad; iv) funds, institutes and public bodies endowed with administrative and financial autonomy, headquartered in national territory; v) Angolan citizens who are diplomats or consular representatives or equivalent, exercising functions abroad, as well as their family members; vi) Angolan individuals whose absence abroad for a period exceeding 90 days and less than 1 year is due to studies or the exercise of public functions. b) foreign exchange non-resident - considered foreign exchange non-residents in national territory: i) individuals with habitual residence abroad; ii) collective entities with headquarters abroad; iii) emigrating individuals; iv) individuals who leave the country for a period exceeding 1 year; v) branches, subsidiaries, agencies or any forms of representation in foreign territory, of collective entities with headquarters in the country;
vi) diplomats, consular representatives or equivalent acting in national territory, as well as their family members. c) for the purposes of paragraph a) of this point, considered habitual residents in national territory: i) all Angolan citizens living in Angola; ii) all foreign citizens holding a residence card issued under applicable legislation.
CHAPTER II Identification and Diligence Procedures Section I Customer Identification Article 4. Customer Identification Obligation
The identification obligations provided in Article 5 of Law No. 34/11 of December 12 must be adopted by non-bank financial institutions regarding their customers, their representatives, beneficial owners and other participants in operations, where applicable.
The aforementioned identification obligations apply not only to new customers of the non-bank financial institution, but may also apply to existing customers, depending on the risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with them.
Whenever a non-bank financial institution knows or has a well-founded suspicion that the customer is not acting on their own behalf, it must take adequate measures to know the identity of the person or entity on whose behalf the customer is acting.
In case of doubts regarding the true identity of the customer, and where applicable, the representative or beneficial owner, which cannot be satisfactorily resolved, it must refuse to carry out any operations.
Article 5. Establishment of Business Relationship
iii) headquarters address; iv) Tax Identification Number (TIN); v) commercial registry registration number; vi) identity of shareholders holding 20% or more of the capital and voting rights; vii) identity of corporate attorneys/proxies and their mandate; c) Regarding individual traders, the establishment of the business relationship must request the Tax Identification Number (TIN), corporate name, headquarters and corporate object, in addition to the identification elements referred to in paragraph a) of Article 5(2); d) Regarding real estate condominiums under horizontal property regime and autonomous patrimony, contracted under general legislation, the regime provided in paragraph b) of Article 5(2) applies, with necessary adaptations. 3. The verification of information must be proven by presenting the following valid documents: a) Individuals: i) The identification elements mentioned in points i), ii) and iii), paragraph a) of Article 5(2), must be verified as follows: ‐ by foreign exchange residents upon presentation of the identity card or residence card issued by the competent authority, showing photograph, full name, date of birth and nationality;
ii) The complete residential address, profession, respective employer when existing, must be proven by any document, means or diligence considered valid, suitable and sufficient to demonstrate the provided information; iii) The identification element mentioned in point viii), paragraph a) of Article 5(2), must be verified by presenting the Tax Identification Card or equivalent issued by the National Directorate of Taxes of the Ministry of Finance. b) Collective entities: i) Regarding resident collective entities, the identification elements mentioned in points i), ii), iii) and v), paragraph b) of Article 5(2), must be verified by presenting the commercial registry certificate issued by the Commercial Registry Office or another public proof document, namely a copy of the Official Gazette containing the publication of the statutes or notarial deed of incorporation; ii) Regarding non-resident collective entities, the identification elements mentioned in points i), ii) and iii), paragraph b) of Article 5(2), must be verified by presenting proof of commercial registry or another valid public document, duly certified by the competent authorities of the country of residence, and authenticated by the Angolan consular representation in the country of origin; iii) The identification element mentioned in point iv), paragraph b) of Article 5(2), must be verified by presenting the Tax Identification Card or equivalent issued by the National Directorate of Taxes of the Ministry of Finance; iv) The identification elements mentioned in point vi), paragraph b) of Article 5(2), must be proven by presenting the Minutes of the Constituent General Assembly as well as the minutes of alteration to the shareholder or partner structure; v) The identification element mentioned in point vii), paragraph b) of Article 5(2), must be proven by a written declaration issued by the collective entity itself, containing the names of management body members, attorneys and representatives. c) In establishing a business relationship on behalf of minors who, due to their age, do not hold any of the documents referred to in paragraph a) of Article 5(3), the verification of their identification elements must be carried out by presenting a personal ID card if they are foreign exchange residents, or an equivalent public document if non-resident, presented by someone demonstrating legal representation for establishing the business relationship, and their identity must be verified at the start of the business relationship.
Article 6. Timing of Identity Verification
b) procedures occur in the shortest possible time; c) it is essential not to interrupt normal business conduct, under the following circumstances, namely: i) transactions are carried out without the physical presence of the customer; ii) transactions involve securities; d) the financial institution adopts a money laundering and terrorist financing prevention system that includes the conditions under which late verification may occur, namely: i) limitation of the number, type and/or value of transactions to be carried out prior to identity verification; ii) reinforced monitoring of the business relationship between establishment and identity verification; e) the contrary does not result from legal or regulatory provision.
Article 7. Occasional Transactions
The non-bank financial institution must collect and conserve information whenever, in person or remotely, a customer wishes to carry out occasional transactions whose amount is equal to or exceeds, in national currency, the equivalent of USD 15,000.00 (fifteen thousand United States Dollars), regardless of whether the transaction is carried out through a single operation or several operations that appear related.
The obligations mentioned in paragraph 1 of this article do not apply when the transaction occurs within a business relationship that the non-bank financial institution already maintains with its customers,
At minimum, the following identification elements mentioned in paragraph 2 of Article 5 and respective proof documents constant in paragraph 3 of the same article must be required from the person or entity wishing to carry out the transaction and, where applicable, their representatives and beneficial owners, namely: a) individuals: elements provided in points i), ii), iii) and vi), paragraph a) of Article 5(2); b) collective entities: elements provided in points i), iv), vi) and vii), paragraph b) of Article 5(2); c) individual traders: elements provided in paragraphs a) and b) of this article; d) real estate condominiums under horizontal property regime and autonomous patrimony: elements provided in paragraph b) of this article.
If occasional transactions are requested on behalf of minors who, due to their age, do not hold any of the documents referred to in paragraph a) of Article 5(2), the verification of their identification elements must be carried out by presenting a personal ID card if foreign exchange resident, or an equivalent public document if non-resident, presented by someone demonstrating legal representation to carry out the occasional transaction, and their identity must be verified upon carrying out the occasional transaction.
Article 8. Remittance Service Providers Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 7 of this notice, remittance service providers must identify their customers, legal representative and beneficial owner, and verify their respective identity, as per Article 5 of Law No. 34/11 of December 12, and in accordance with Article 4 and paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 7 of this notice, regardless of the amount involved in the occasional transaction.
Article 9. Mechanisms for Identifying the Beneficial Owner Pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 5 of this notice, appropriate means for identifying the beneficial owner must include: a) authenticated document confirming the identity of the beneficial owner; b) copy of the fiduciary agreement or partnership agreement, or other equivalent document; c) Minutes of the Constituent General Assembly as well as minutes of alteration to the shareholder or partner structure; d) other reliable information, publicly available and considered relevant by the non-bank financial institution.
Section II Diligence Duties Article 10. Duty of Continuous Monitoring
Within the obligation provided in paragraph d) of Article 7 of Law No. 34/11 of December 12, for continuous monitoring of the business relationship, depending on customer risk assessment, the following information must be requested regarding the customer: a) nature and details of business, occupation or employment; b) record of changes in domicile; c) origin of funds to be used in the business relationship; d) origin of initial and continuous income; e) various relationships between signatories and their respective beneficial owners.
The non-bank financial institution, whenever it deems necessary, may request additional information from customers, based on transactions carried out by them and the risk assessment performed, such as the Annual Report and Accounts, among others.
Senior management of non-bank financial institutions must be aware of the profile of high-risk customers of the institution.
Article 11. Monitoring of Repeated Transactions
Article 12. Execution of Obligations by Third Parties
Article 13. Agents