Circular 3/2019 — Modifies Circular 14/2017

(First Section) OFFICIAL GAZETTE Thursday, March 7, 2019 BANK OF MEXICO CIRCULAR 3/2019 addressed to the participants of the Interbank Electronic Payments System and other interested parties acting with such status, regarding the reforms to the Rules of the Interbank Electronic Payments System (SPEI), in matters of Risk Mitigation.

At the margin, a logo stating: Bank of Mexico.- “2019, Year of the Southern Leader, Emiliano Zapata”.

CIRCULAR 3/2019 TO THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE INTERBANK ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS SYSTEM AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES ACTING WITH SUCH STATUS.

SUBJECT: REFORMS TO THE RULES OF THE INTERBANK ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS SYSTEM (SPEI), IN MATTERS OF RISK MITIGATION.

The Bank of Mexico, in its capacity as administrator of the Interbank Electronic Payments System (SPEI), with the purpose of continuing to promote the proper functioning of payment systems and the healthy development of the financial system, as well as the protection of the public's interests, has deemed it necessary to establish additional measures regarding the treatment that participants of said system must give to the accounts of those clients who offer services of exchange or sale and purchase of virtual assets in a habitual and professional manner, in order that, on the one hand, said participants have adequate controls to mitigate risks related to the handling of resources derived from unauthorized fund transfers legitimately or that may be used as part of illicit operations and that, on the other hand, it allows the respective clients to offer their services under adequate protection conditions.

In particular, it is convenient to take into account that, according to the regime to which the providers of referred services are currently subject, they are not obliged to follow measures, in accordance with the services they provide, in order to adequately identify their respective clients or counterparties and follow up on their operations, as well as report to the competent authorities those that could be related to presumptively illicit activities. This situation is of importance given the inherent risk to the assets offered by said providers, relative to the carrying out of operations susceptible to being involved in illicit activities. In light of this, it is necessary that participants in the SPEI have adequate measures and controls to prevent said system from being used in operations with virtual assets in which those carrying out said operations cannot be adequately identified or that these are carried out as part of fraudulent activities to extract from the financial system, in an agile and traceless manner, the resources derived from said activities. In virtue of this, the Bank of Mexico, as administrator of the SPEI, must ensure the integrity of said system, as well as seek a healthy distance, through appropriate controls, between the financial system and the virtual asset market. In this way, the measures that participants in the SPEI must follow would seek to ensure the legitimacy of the operations carried out through said system for the sale and purchase of virtual assets.

For the foregoing, the Bank of Mexico, based on articles 28, paragraphs sixth and seventh, of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, 2, sections I, IV and VIII, and 6 of the Payment Systems Law, 22 of the Law for Transparency and Ordering of Financial Services, 4, first paragraph, 8, paragraphs fourth and seventh, 10, first paragraph, 14 Bis, first paragraph in relation to 17, section I, and 20, section XI, of the Internal Regulations of the Bank of Mexico, which grant it the authority to issue provisions through the General Legal Directorate and the Payment Systems Directorate, respectively, as well as Second, sections VI and X, of the Agreement on the Assignment of Administrative Units of the Bank of Mexico, has resolved to modify section I, last paragraph, of the 19th, section VI, of the 45th, and section I Bis, of the 72nd, of the Rules of the Interbank Electronic Payments System, issued through Circular 14/2017, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on July 4, 2017, and modified through Circulares 5/2018, 11/2018, and 18/2018, published in the aforementioned Gazette on May 17, 2018, July 27, 2018, and December 24, 2018, respectively, to read as follows:

Thursday, March 7, 2019 OFFICIAL GAZETTE (First Section) RULES OF THE INTERBANK ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS SYSTEM

“19th. Accreditation of Transfer Orders Accepted by SPEI.- … I. … … … Additionally, regarding those fund transfers directed to Beneficiary Client Accounts indicated in Rule 58th, section V, last paragraph, the respective Receiving Participants must carry out additional validations to those provided for in these Rules before carrying out the credit referred to in this section, to determine if they accept the respective Transfer Orders Accepted by SPEI, and, regarding said validations, they must take into account, among other aspects they determine, the opening date of the corresponding Client Accounts, as well as the transactional patterns of these in comparison with those considered unusual. In this case, the referred Participants will not be obliged to comply with the deadlines indicated in the first and second paragraphs of this section, as applicable, and may carry out the corresponding credits within the time frame that, for this effect, the Administrator authorizes each Participant in response to the request presented through the Business Operation and Continuity Management of the Payment Systems. Until the Participants have the authorization from the Bank of Mexico referred to in this paragraph, they must carry out each of the aforementioned credits in the same schedule of the next Banking Business Day following the schedule in which they receive the respective Transfer Order. …”

“45th. Contingencies.- … I. to V. … VI. Notify all Participants, through the electronic communication means established in the Manual, notices regarding situations in which they must elevate their monitoring and alert mechanisms with respect to fund transfers they process through the SPEI, under the terms and subject to the conditions established by the Manual, for this effect, as well as, if applicable, carry out, within the deadlines indicated in said notices, the credits, in the respective Client Accounts, of the amounts corresponding to the Transfer Orders Accepted by SPEI they receive.”

“72nd. Permanence Requirements in Matters of Additional Risks.- … I. … I Bis.… … Without prejudice to what is provided in the previous paragraph, each Participant must refrain from opening to any of the Clients indicated in this section Client Accounts in series, linked to a particular Client Account opened in the name of said Client, which this Client may, in turn, offer to its users for the sending or receiving of fund transfers through the SPEI in favor of said Clients. As an exception to what is provided in this paragraph, Participants may open the referred Client Accounts only in the following cases:

a) Client Accounts in which the sum of the credits made to each of them, as a result of the respective fund transfers, does not exceed, during the course of a calendar month, the equivalent in national currency to three thousand UDIS and that, additionally, comply with the following mandatory requirements:

1. Participants collect, directly or through their respective Clients, the same documents and identification data of those users in whose favor they open said Client Accounts, corresponding to those that the general provisions referred to in article 115 of the Credit Institutions Law require for level 2 demand money deposit bank accounts;
2. Clients enter into contracts with the respective users for the use of the referred Client Accounts, in person or, if applicable, remotely, provided that, in the latter case, Clients comply with the same requirements and obligations established for Credit Institutions for the opening of level 2 demand money deposit accounts established in Title Two, Chapter II, Second Section, Section B, of the “General provisions applicable to credit institutions” issued by the National Banking and Securities Commission, and

(First Section) OFFICIAL GAZETTE Thursday, March 7, 2019 3. Fund transfers carried out through the SPEI, originating from one of the Client Accounts offered to a user of the Client corresponding to what is indicated in the third paragraph of this section I Bis and received in that same account, are only transfers that, in turn, are directed to and originate from the same Client Account that is one of those indicated in the second paragraph of this section I Bis and that has been opened in another Participant in the name of the same user. For the purposes of the provision in present numeral 3, each Participant must identify and keep a record of the Client Account opened in the other Participant, as well as verify that the data of the holder of said Client Account coincide with those the Participant has obtained regarding the Client Account they have opened. For this same purpose, the Participant, prior to sending or receiving fund transfers to the Client Account held for the user in question, must send to the Client Account opened in another Participant a Transfer Order for the minimum amount allowed by the SPEI in order to obtain the data of the holder of that other Client Account from the Electronic Payment Receipt related to said transfer.

b) Client Accounts in which the sum of the credits made to each of them, as a result of the respective fund transfers, during the course of a calendar month, are greater than the equivalent in national currency to three thousand UDIS and do not exceed the equivalent in national currency to eight thousand UDIS and that, additionally, comply with the same requirements as those indicated in numerals 1 to 3 of subsection a) above. Additionally, regarding these Client Accounts, the Participant must validate, directly or through the respective Clients referred to in this section I Bis, the identity of the users in whose favor said Client Accounts have been opened, by confirming the data included in their voter credentials issued by the National Electoral Institute, as well as the validation of the fingerprints of said users with those registered by that Institute, through the system it makes available to them for these effects. In this regard, Participants must keep a record of the validations they have carried out as indicated in this subsection.

c) Client Accounts in which the sum of the credits made to each of them, as a result of the respective fund transfers, exceeds, during the course of a calendar month, the equivalent in national currency to eight thousand UDIS and that, regarding said accounts, Participants comply with the same requirements indicated in subsections a) and b) above. Additionally, in these cases, said Participants must collect, directly or through their Clients, the advanced electronic signature of each of the respective users backed by a valid certificate issued in terms of what is provided in article 17-D of the Federal Tax Code.

To carry out the calculation in UDIS of the limits indicated in this section, Participants must take the value of said unit of account from the last natural day of the calendar month preceding the month in question.

In the cases referred to in subsections a), b), and c) of this section I Bis, Participants may only allow the opening of no more than one of the referred Client Accounts per individual user. The Participant referred to in this section I Bis is responsible for compliance with the requirements established in this same section. …”

TRANSITORY PROVISIONS FIRST. The provisions of this Circular will enter into force sixty natural days immediately following the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation.

SECOND. Those Participants who have obtained authorization from the Bank of Mexico to comply with what is provided in Rule 72nd, section I Bis, in a period later than that indicated in the first transitory article of Circular 18/2018, issued by the same Bank of Mexico and published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on December 24, 2018, must observe what is provided in said Rule no later than the day of entry into force indicated in the first transitory article of this Circular.

Thursday, March 7, 2019 OFFICIAL GAZETTE (First Section) Mexico City, March 1, 2019.- The General Legal Director, Luis Urrutia Corral.- Signature.- The Director of Payment Systems, Manuel Miguel Ángel Díaz Díaz.- Signature.

For any inquiries regarding the content of this Circular, please contact the Central Bank Authorizations and Inquiries Management at telephone numbers (55) 5237-2308, (55) 5237-2317, or (55) 5237-2000, extension 3200.