2021-09-20
Added · Updated
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply issued Instructions No. 2 of 2016 mandating insurance companies to implement customer due diligence, risk-based controls, and enhanced measures for politically exposed persons. The regulations define specific thresholds for simplified due diligence, such as annual premiums not exceeding 1,000 JOD for life insurance or 3,000 JOD for general insurance, and require the reporting of suspicious transactions to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Unit. These obligations apply to all insurance entities operating in Jordan to prevent the misuse of insurance products for money laundering or terrorism financing.
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Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Instructions in Insurance Activities and their Amendments No. 2 of 2016 Published on page 3974 of Official Gazette No. 5410 dated 2016/7/17
Article 1 Issued by His Excellency the Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, based on the letter from the Prime Minister's Office No. 83/11/1/19838 dated 8/6/2014, which includes the Cabinet's decision to approve, effective from 30/4/2014, the transfer of all powers of the Insurance Board of Directors stipulated under the Insurance Business Regulation Law No. (33) of 1999 and its amendments, and the systems, instructions, and decisions issued pursuant thereto, to His Excellency the Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply. This is pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (k) of Article (23) of the Insurance Business Regulation Law No. (33) of 1999 and its amendments, and paragraph (4) of sub-paragraph (a) of Article (14) and paragraph (b) of Article (18) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law No. (46) of 2007 and its amendments.
These Instructions shall be known as the "Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Instructions in Insurance Activities for the Year 2015" and shall be effective from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
Article 2 a. The words and phrases contained in these Instructions shall have the meanings assigned to them in Article (2) of the Insurance Business Regulation Law No. (33) of 1999 and its amendments, and Article (2) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law No. (46) of 2007 and its amendments, unless the context indicates otherwise. b. For the purposes of these Instructions, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings indicated below: The Ministry: The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply. The Insurance Department: The Insurance Department within the Ministry.
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The Minister: The Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply. The Secretary General: The Secretary General of the Ministry. The Unit: The Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Unit established in accordance with the provisions of the prevailing Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law. Insurance Relationship: The relationship arising between the company and the client pursuant to the insurance policy and related transactions. Beneficiary: The natural or legal person, legal arrangement, or group of persons to whom the policy proceeds shall be paid upon or in the event of the insured event covered by the insurance policy. Beneficial Owner: The natural person who ultimately owns or controls the customer and/or on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. It also includes those persons who exercise ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement. Foreign Politically Exposed Persons: Persons who have or have held prominent public functions in a foreign country, such as head of state, head of government, senior politician, senior judge, military officer, senior executive of a state-owned corporation, or prominent figure in a political party, and includes their family members to the first degree at least or persons closely associated with them. Local Politically Exposed Persons: Persons who have or have held prominent public functions in the Kingdom, such as heads of government, senior government officials, prominent politicians, judges, military officers, prominent figures in a political party, or senior executives in state-owned companies, and includes their family members to the first degree at least or persons closely associated with them. Persons entrusted with or who have entrusted prominent functions by an international organization: Senior management members, i.e., directors, deputy directors, board members, or positions equivalent to them. Control: The ability, direct or indirect, to exercise effective influence over the actions and decisions of another person. Group: A group consisting of a parent company or any other legal person who hold controlling shares and coordinate functions with other group members to apply or implement group-level control.
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Financial Group: The group together with branches and/or subsidiaries that are subject to group-level anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing policies and procedures. Financial Institution: A legal person that exercises one or more financial activities under its founding deed in accordance with relevant legislation. Legal Arrangements: The relationship arising pursuant to a contract between two or more parties that does not result in the creation of a legal person, such as bare trusts or similar legal arrangements. Trusts: Legal relationships arising between living persons or upon death, by a person or trustee, where assets have been placed under the control of the person or trustee for the benefit of a beneficiary or for a specific purpose, such that the assets are independent funds and not part of the trustee's estate, and the right to the trustee's assets remains in the name of the settlor or in the name of another person on behalf of the settlor. Non-Profit Entity: Any legal person, legal arrangement, or institution established in accordance with relevant laws to collect or spend funds for charitable, religious, cultural, educational, social, or other similar purposes, without its activity targeting profit generation, distribution, or personal benefit, including foreign branches of international non-profit organizations. c. For the purposes of these Instructions, the phrases (Money Laundering) and (Terrorism Financing) wherever mentioned in its provisions shall have the meaning specified in the prevailing Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Law. d. For the purposes of these Instructions, the word (Client) refers to the permanent client, whether natural or legal person or legal arrangement. It also refers to the insured. In the case of insurance policies where the beneficiary is not the insured, the word (Client) refers to the insured and the beneficiary.
Amendments to the Article:
Article 3 a. The company shall apply customer due diligence in the cases specified in Article (4) of these Instructions in accordance with the procedures set forth in these Instructions. Customer due diligence shall include the following matters:
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Amendments to the Article:
Article 4 The company shall take customer due diligence procedures in the following cases: a. Before and during the establishment of the insurance relationship. b. Suspicion of an insurance transaction related to money laundering or terrorism financing, regardless of its value. c. Doubt about the accuracy or sufficiency of data previously obtained regarding client identification. d. When making a fundamental change to the insurance policy.
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Article 5 Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (b) of Article (3) of these Instructions, the company may postpone the verification procedures of the beneficiary's and/or beneficial owner's identity until after the conclusion of the insurance contract, provided that it adheres to the following: a. That this is necessary to avoid disrupting the normal course of business, and the company shall complete these procedures as soon as possible, and in any case, during or before the payment of claims or before the beneficiary exercises any rights granted to them under the insurance contract. b. The company shall take necessary measures to effectively control the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing in the case where verification procedures are postponed, including setting limits on the type and amounts of transactions that can be executed before completing verification procedures. c. If the company is unable to fulfill the beneficiary identity verification requirements, it shall terminate the insurance contract. In the event of suspicion of a transaction related to money laundering or terrorism financing, it shall notify the Unit thereof in accordance with the provisions of these Instructions. d. For the purposes of applying the provisions of paragraph (c) of this Article, the company shall include in insurance policy forms provisions that ensure its right to terminate the insurance contract during the period of postponement of the beneficiary's identity verification procedures.
Article 6 If the company has suspicion of a transaction related to money laundering or terrorism financing and believes for reasonable grounds that continuing customer due diligence procedures would alert the client, it may refrain from continuing these procedures, provided that it notifies the Unit in accordance with the provisions of these Instructions.
Article 7 The company shall adhere to the following: a. Conduct ongoing monitoring of the existing insurance relationship with the client and review transactions conducted through this relationship, such as changes to the insurance policy or the exercise of one of the rights contained therein, to verify that they are consistent with the company's knowledge of the client and beneficial owner, the nature of their work or activity, and the source of funds, if necessary, and to evaluate the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing arising from the relationship with them. b. Ensure that documents, data, or information obtained pursuant to customer due diligence procedures are continuously updated, particularly by reviewing existing records, especially for high-risk client categories.
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Page 6 of 20 c. Apply customer due diligence procedures for clients who have insurance relationships with the company prior to the enforcement of these Instructions, based on relative importance and risk and their association with money laundering or terrorism financing transactions. Take customer due diligence procedures for existing business relationships at appropriate times, taking into account whether customer due diligence procedures were previously taken, when they were taken, and the sufficiency of the data obtained.
Article 8 a. The company shall review official documents to identify the client's identity and nature of activity, obtaining a copy of these documents signed by the authorized employee in the company or whom the company authorizes for this purpose, certifying that it is a true copy. b. The company shall take appropriate measures to verify the validity of the data and information obtained from the client through independent and reliable sources, including contacting the competent authorities issuing the official documents confirming this data and referring to the website of the Companies Control Department. c. The following shall be considered in the procedures for identifying the identity of a natural person and their activity:
d. The following shall be considered in the procedures for identifying the identity of a legal person or legal arrangement and their activity:
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Page 7 of 20 2. The existence of the legal person or legal arrangement, its legal entity, and the names of owners and authorized signatories shall be verified through necessary documents and the information they contain, such as the deed of establishment, articles of association, certificates issued by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, Industrial and Commercial Chambers, and the Companies Control Department. Additionally, it is necessary to obtain an official certificate issued by a competent authority if the company is registered abroad. 3. Obtain documents indicating authorization from the legal person or legal arrangement to the natural persons representing them, their relationship with them, identify their identity and activity according to the client identification and activity procedures stipulated in item (1) of paragraph (c) of this Article, verify that there is no legal impediment to dealing with them, and obtain samples of their signatures. 4. The following shall be considered in identifying the beneficial owner if the client is a legal arrangement:
e. The following shall be considered in procedures for identifying the beneficial owner:
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Page 8 of 20 h. The company shall consider the beneficiary of a life insurance policy as a risk factor when determining the applicability of enhanced due diligence procedures. If the company determines that the insurance beneficiary is a legal person representing high risk, it shall apply enhanced measures, which shall include taking reasonable measures to identify and verify the beneficial owner of the insurance beneficiary at the time of claim payment. i. The following shall be considered in procedures for identifying the identity of legal arrangements:
Amendments to the Article:
Article 9 a. The company shall establish and apply special policies and procedures to avoid risks related to the misuse of indirect customer transactions that are not face-to-face, especially those conducted using modern technologies such as internet insurance services where premiums are paid using electronic payment tools. It must ensure that the level of client identity and activity verification procedures in such cases is equal to the verification procedures for face-to-face transactions. b. The company shall conduct an assessment and determination of money laundering and terrorism financing risks before launching new products or previously existing ones, or practices or technologies referred to in paragraph (a) of this Article, and take appropriate measures to manage and mitigate those risks, and inform the Insurance Department of the results.
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Amendments to the Article:
Article 10 The company shall take enhanced due diligence procedures to identify the client's identity and activity in the following cases: a. Large insurance transactions, insurance transactions that have no clear economic or legal purpose, and complex and unusual insurance transactions, and establish necessary procedures to ascertain the background circumstances and purposes of these transactions, and record the results in its records. b. Insurance transactions conducted with persons who are located in or belong to countries that do not have appropriate systems for combating money laundering and terrorism financing, or if these countries do not apply international controls for combating money laundering and terrorism financing, or do not apply them sufficiently, including the recommendations issued by the Financial Action Task Force. c. Any transaction that the Insurance Department considers, at its discretion, to pose a high risk of money laundering or terrorism financing. d. Transactions conducted through non-resident clients. e. Business relationships and transactions conducted with natural persons and legal persons (including financial institutions) from countries for which the Financial Action Task Force calls for such action.
Article 11 The following provisions shall apply: a. The company shall adhere to the following when dealing with foreign politically exposed persons:
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Article 12 a. The company may apply simplified due diligence procedures to identify and verify the client's identity and activity in the following cases:
Article 13 The company shall, for the purposes of applying the provisions of Articles (9-12) of these Instructions, take the following steps: a. Take appropriate steps to identify, assess, and understand money laundering and terrorism financing risks (as customer, country, geographic, product, service, transaction, and service delivery channel risks) consistent with the nature and size of the business. This includes:
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b. The company shall provide internal control and monitoring systems capable of managing risks, and it shall examine the effectiveness of the internal control and monitoring systems established to manage identified risks. c. Establish policies and controls, approved by the company's Board of Directors or Authorized Director, enabling it to manage identified risks and mitigate them, supervise the application of these controls, and enhance them if necessary. Take enhanced measures to manage and mitigate risks when high risks are identified. d. Provide the Insurance Department with a report on the assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing risks annually, or in the event of a need to conduct this assessment due to a fundamental change in the nature of risks, according to a decision issued by the Secretary General on this matter.
Amendments to the Article:
Article 14 a. The company may rely on financial institutions that are members of the group to which it belongs or a third party outside the financial group to apply due diligence procedures, enhanced due diligence procedures regarding politically exposed persons, and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing programs, in accordance with the provisions of these Instructions. The third party must be regulated and supervised by competent authorities and have procedures to comply with customer due diligence requirements, maintain records, and implement anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing programs stipulated in these Instructions. b. The company shall take into account the risk assessment level of the country where the member financial institution or the third party outside the group is located. Enhanced due diligence procedures shall be taken if the country is high-risk, and any high risks specific to countries shall be sufficiently mitigated by the group's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing policies. c. The ultimate responsibility for applying customer due diligence procedures remains with the company, which shall adhere to the following:
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