2018-11-19
The National Bank of Angola issued Guideline No. 13/2018 to mandate enhanced due diligence procedures for banking financial institutions managing high-risk import and export transactions. The directive requires institutions to classify clients based on business models, counterparty structures, and transfer pricing alignment, while prohibiting advance payments for high-risk importers and enforcing strict verification of letters of credit, invoices, and supporting shipping documents. Non-compliance triggers sanctions under existing anti-money laundering and exchange rate laws, with unresolved disputes resolved by the central bank.
GUIDELINE NO. 13/2018 of September 19 SUBJECT: EXCHANGE RATE POLICY
Considering that international trade may represent a high risk of money laundering, terrorist financing and related offences, and facilitate the illicit movement of funds abroad; And considering the current legislation covering international trade transactions, namely:
CONTINUATION OF GUIDELINE NO. 13/2018 Page 2 of 8 I HEREBY DETERMINE:
CONTINUATION OF GUIDELINE NO. 13/2018 Page 3 of 8 b) Apply enhanced due diligence procedures, as provided for in Law No. 34/11 of December 12 and in points 4 and 5 of this Guideline. 4. Enhanced Due Diligence Procedures 4.1 The enhanced due diligence procedures referred to in paragraph b) of point 3.1 of this Guideline must include the following elements: a) Request for the importing client’s accounts and respective Industrial Tax Form 1 to verify the consistency between the declared sales value and the import value reflected in the accounts, as well as its reasonableness, considering the value of exchange rate operations carried out through the Banking Financial Institution (Note: after the first semester, only documents relating to the previous fiscal year may be accepted for this purpose); and, b) Identification of the beneficial owners of exporting entities classified as trading companies, which are the beneficiaries of payments, in order to: i. verify that they are not subject to sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), United Nations Sanctions Committee and/or other equivalent entities; ii. identify the existence of related entities with the importer; and, iii. obtain confirmation of the submission of the Transfer Pricing Report to the General Tax Administration (AGT), in case related entities are identified, when the importer is a large taxpayer, classified as such by Dispatch No. 316/17 of July 17 from the Ministry of Finance. 4.2 Regarding import operations, Banking Financial Institutions must, when monitoring the transactions of their importing clients considered high risk, apply the procedures described below, among others, in a manner proportional to the risk the operation may represent. 4.3 Whenever an operation is settled through a letter of credit, Banking Financial Institutions must, upon opening the letter of credit: a) Ensure that the proforma invoice includes a detailed description of the goods to be imported and the unit price; b) Assess the consistency of the description in the invoice with the description in the import license; c) Seek to assess the reasonableness of the goods' value in the invoice, by comparing it with previous invoices and/or market value, when publicly available and/or other relevant information internally or publicly available; d) Verify the economic sense of the import, namely, the correspondence between the value and volume of goods with the mode of transport and freight cost; e) Obtain justifications in cases where the goods are shipped from a country that does not traditionally produce the product being exported to Angola; f) Evaluate the consistency of the operation with the importer’s activity, namely: i. The import value is within the normal standard of the importer; ii. The import value is consistent with the scale of the importer’s regular business activity; and, iii. The type of goods being imported is consistent with the importer’s regular business activity. g) Refuse to issue letters of credit that: i. Are transferable; and, ii. Allow transshipments through one or more jurisdictions, unless there are sound economic reasons for doing so.
CONTINUATION OF GUIDELINE NO. 13/2018 Page 4 of 8 4.4 Banking Financial Institutions must, upon receipt of documents: a) Assess the consistency of the supporting documents for the operation, namely: i. That the description of the goods and other common information in the bill of lading, invoice, import license, Single Document and other documents forming part of the set of supporting documents for the operation are coherent with each other and with the letter of credit, where applicable; ii. That the container reference numbers, referred to in the shipping manifest, were loaded onto the ship referenced in the same document, and that this ship departed and docked at the ports also referenced in the shipping manifest, by consulting the websites of shipping lines. b) Conduct an analysis of any request for acceptance of discrepancies by the exporter, especially when these result from inconsistencies in information between the presented documents under the letter of credit or with the letter of credit itself, allowing their acceptance only if duly justified. c) In cases where the operation was confirmed by a foreign bank, the Banking Financial Institution must immediately contact that bank upon detecting indications of money laundering, terrorist financing or related offences in its analysis of the documents according to the stipulated point 4.3, so that appropriate measures can be taken as applicable. 4.5 Banking Financial Institutions must apply the aforementioned due diligence measures, with necessary adaptations, to other payment instruments used by importers at the time of requesting settlement of the operation.
CONTINUATION OF GUIDELINE NO. 13/2018 Page 5 of 8 5. Other Due Diligence Measures 5.1 Banking Financial Institutions must: a) Obtain all necessary information to ensure the lawfulness of operations; b) Refuse to carry out operations whenever the due diligence procedures referred to in this Guideline cannot be adequately fulfilled; c) In case of suspicions of money laundering, terrorist financing or related offences, abstain from executing the operations and report them to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), as provided in Directive No. 01/DSI/2012, awaiting the decision of that entity regarding the treatment to be given to the operation; and, d) Record the results of the applied due diligence measures and decisions taken, and archive them in the respective client’s file. 6. Sanctions Violation of the rules provided for in this Guideline is punishable under Law No. 34/11 of December 12 – the Law on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, Law No. 05/97 of June 27 – the Exchange Rate Law, and Law No. 12/15 of June 17 – the Framework Law on Financial Institutions, without prejudice to any other potentially applicable legislation. 7. Doubts and Omissions Doubts and omissions resulting from the interpretation and application of this Guideline are resolved by the National Bank of Angola. 8. Entry into Force This Guideline enters into force 30 (thirty) days after the date of its publication.
CONTINUATION OF GUIDELINE NO. 13/2018 Page 6 of 8 PUBLISHED. Luanda, September 20, 2018. THE GOVERNOR JOSÉ DE LIMA MASSANO