Circular Letter No. CC/2021/00000015

Circular Letter No. CC/2021/00000015
Sent to:
Credit Institutions; Electronic Money Institutions; Payment Institutions and Financial Societies.
Mod. 99999924/T – 01/14
Subject: Use of BPnet in electronic communications and file submission, within the scope of activities related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing

With a view to promoting the speed, effectiveness, and security of communications with supervised entities in the context of activities related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, three services have been created in the BPnet system for correspondence and file submission with the Preventive Supervision Area for Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing ("ASB").

The three new BPnet services have the following designations:

• "Inspections": To be used in response to all requests made by the ASB within the scope of an inspection, namely in the exchange of correspondence, submission of files or questions, as well as in response to other information requests made by the ASB.
• "Risk Assessment and Supervisory Measures": To be used in response to all requests made by the ASB within the scope of carrying out risk analysis actions, off-site supervision and/or monitoring of issued supervisory measures.
• "Inquiries and Responses to Specific Information Requests": To be used in response to specific information requests made by the ASB and, likewise, for the submission of questions by supervised entities regarding the applicable legal and regulatory framework in matters of prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

Each of the new services described includes a "File Submission" tab, for the submission of larger volume files, and a "Correspondence" tab, for the exchange of correspondence in the different contexts.

In this context, the Bank of Portugal transmits the following:

1. Credit institutions, financial societies, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, and entities that carry out activities with virtual assets, with headquarters or branch in Portugal, as well as payment institutions and electronic money institutions with headquarters abroad that carry out activity in Portugal through agents and/or distributors, must subscribe to the three new services provided – "Inspections," "Risk Assessment and Supervisory Measures," and "Inquiries and Responses to Specific Information Requests," – available in the "Prevention of AML/CFT" Area of the BPnet system.

2. Supervised entities must ensure that the compliance officer, referred to in Article 16 of Law No. 83/2017 of August 18 ("Law No. 83/2017") and Article 7 of Bank of Portugal Notice No. 2/2018 of September 26 ("Notice No. 2/2018"), as well as their substitute, are users of the three services referred to in the previous paragraph.

3. Payment institutions and electronic money institutions referred to in points (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 of Article 3 of Law No. 83/2017, must ensure that the following are users of the three services referred to in number 1:
   a) The compliance officer referred to in point (b) of paragraph 2 of Article 63 of Notice No. 2/2018; and

Mod. 99999924/T – 01/14 b) The central contact point manager, appointed in accordance with point (d) of paragraph 2 of Article 72 of Law No. 83/2017, and paragraph 5 of Article 63 of Notice No. 2/2018.

4. The compliance officer and the central contact point, referred to in numbers 2 and 3 and, where applicable, their substitutes, are responsible for ensuring the proper management of the aforementioned services, namely by ensuring (i) the permanent currency of their subscribers, (ii) the adequate use of the described services, restricting themselves to the purposes they pursue, (iii) the necessary prudence in the use of information exchanged in this context.

5. Whenever there is a change in any of the subscribers/users of the three services described in number 1, supervised entities must promote their immediate update.

6. The subscribers/users of the services mentioned in number 1 must be identical at all times.

7. From June 1, 2021, all communications that the Bank of Portugal addresses to supervised entities, in the context of activities associated with the services described in number 1, will be sent exclusively through them, depending on the concrete nature of the requests.

8. Likewise, communications that supervised entities address to the Bank of Portugal in the context of those activities must, from that date, be carried out through the three indicated services.

9. Correspondence from entities that constitutes a response to a previous communication from the Bank of Portugal must use, without alterations, the "Subject" indicated in that communication.

10. The submission of files through the "File Submission" tab of each service must comply with the file naming rules described in each service.

11. In accordance with Article 59 of Notice No. 2/2018, communications addressed to any entity comprising the Integrated System of Mutual Agricultural Credit (SICAM), in the context of activities associated with the services described in number 1, will only be sent to the users of the Central Credit Union of Mutual Agricultural Credit, with these being responsible for sending the respective response through the same channel.

The new services referred to in this Circular Letter supplement the "RPB" service, already available in the context of the thematic area related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, which must be used for the submission of the report due in accordance with Bank of Portugal Instruction No. 5/2019 of January 30, and for posing operational questions related to the aforementioned report. Numbers 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 11 above must also be observed in the context of the use of the "RPB" service, with the necessary adaptations.

Finally, the Bank of Portugal alerts to the need for the instructions contained in this Circular Letter and those that may appear in the "Technical Documentation" tab of the thematic area related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing to be scrupulously observed, under penalty of violation of the duty of collaboration provided for in Article 53 of Law No. 83/2017.

1 Through its respective collection application (reporting form).
2 Through the specific "Correspondence" tab of this service.