Notice No. 06/2012 of March 29 Establishing Standards for Value Remittance Services

1 Published in the Official Gazette, 1st Series, No. 61, of March 29

NOTICE NO. 06/2012 of March 29

Considering the need to establish standards for the provision of value remittance services in Angola, carried out by payment service providers, under Law No. 5/1997 of June 27, Negotiable Instruments Law, Law No. 5/2005 of July 29, Angola Payment System Law, and Law No. 13/2005 of September 30, Financial Institutions Law.

Under the provisions of paragraph f) of Article 21 of Law No. 16/10 of July 15, Bank of Angola Law;

In the exercise of the competence conferred upon me by Article 51 of Law No. 16/10 of July 15, Bank of Angola Law;

I DETERMINE:

Article 1 Object This Notice regulates the provision of value remittance services.

Article 2 Scope

1. This Notice applies to any value remittance service, hereinafter referred to as remittances, where the delivery of funds by the sender and/or the receipt of funds by the beneficiary takes place in Angola, as defined in this Notice.
2. The following shall not be considered value remittances: a) withdrawals of checks at the drawee institution; b) cash deliveries or other payment instruments made directly between the sender and the beneficiary, without any intermediation; c) the physical transport, on a professional basis, of banknotes and coins, including their collection, processing, and delivery.

Article 3 Definitions For the purposes of this Notice, the following terms are understood as:

1. Beneficiary - the recipient of the funds that are the subject of a remittance.
2. BIC - Bank Identifier Code.
3. Payment or deposit accounts - accounts held in the name of the sender or beneficiary, which are used to execute fund transfer operations.
4. Sender - the person who issues an order for value remittance.
5. Resident sender for exchange purposes - an adult individual resident for exchange purposes as defined in Article 4 of Law No. 5/1997 of June 27 - Negotiable Instruments Law - who issues an order for national and/or international value remittances.
6. Non-resident sender for exchange purposes - an adult individual resident for exchange purposes, as defined in Article 4 of Law No. 5/1997 of June 27 - Negotiable Instruments Law - who issues an order for national and/or foreign value remittances to the national territory.
7. Remittance Service Provider - a payment service provider, according to paragraph q) of Article 2 of Law No. 5/2005 of July 29, Angola Payment System Law, authorized by the Bank of Angola to provide value remittance services.
8. Value Remittances or simply Remittances - all fund transfers that do not necessarily imply: a) the creation or use of payment or deposit accounts by the sender and/or beneficiary; b) the provision of goods and/or services by the beneficiary in exchange for the operation. Value remittances constitute a special case of payment operation, defined in Law No. 5/2005 of July 29, Angola Payment System Law.
9. International Remittances - value remittances where the sender is a resident for exchange purposes and the beneficiary is not located on national territory, or the sender is a non-resident for exchange purposes located abroad, or on national territory, and the beneficiary is located on national territory.
10. National Remittances - value remittances where both the sender and the beneficiary are located on national territory.
11. Remittance System - the set of participants, rules, and technical and operational procedures that enable the execution of remittances.
12. Funds - cash, checks, other monetary instruments, or other value deposits.

Article 4 Types of Remittances

1. For the purposes of this Notice, remittances are classified into national remittances and international remittances.
2. The definition of each type of remittance is provided in Article 3 of this Notice.

Article 5 Participants

1. The participants in a remittance system are: a) the sender, whether resident or non-resident for exchange purposes; b) the sender's service provider; c) the beneficiary's service provider; d) the beneficiary.
2. The sender's service provider and the beneficiary's service provider may be the same entity.
3. A remittance system necessarily includes an information transfer system and may also include: a) a clearing and settlement subsystem; b) a network of own service points used by senders and beneficiaries.

Article 6 Authorization to Provide the Service

1. Only financial institutions or non-financial institutions authorized, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 5/2005 - Payment System Law, of July 29, and Law No. 13/2005 - Financial Institutions Law, of September 30, may provide remittance services.
2. Only remittance systems duly authorized by the Bank of Angola, in accordance with the provisions regarding payment subsystems under Law No. 5/2005 of July 29, may be used.

Article 7 Limits

1. International remittances originating in Angola may only be requested by resident senders for exchange purposes.
2. National remittances may be requested by resident senders for exchange purposes and/or by non-resident senders for exchange purposes.
3. International remittances originating in Angola are subject to the following maximum limits: a) value in Kwanzas equivalent to USD 5,000.00 (five thousand United States Dollars), per month; b) value in Kwanzas equivalent to USD 20,000.00 (twenty thousand United States Dollars), per year.
4. The limits defined in the previous paragraph apply to the Sender, regardless of the service points where each remittance is ordered.
5. It is the responsibility of the institution providing the remittance service, based on its risk management criteria, to establish limits for national remittances.
6. In addition to the control to which all remittance service operators are obliged, the Financial Information Unit, in accordance with paragraphs a) and b) of Article 7 of Presidential Decree No. 35/11 of February 15, combined with paragraph 1 of Article 15 of Law 12/10 of July 9, Law on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, may determine the suspension of international remittances originating in Angola to countries or identified legal or natural persons.

Article 8 Responsibilities of the Remittance Service Provider

1. In addition to other obligations provided by law, the remittance service provider must record at least the following information regarding all remittances sent: a) Regarding the sender: i. number and expiry date of the identity card for national citizens, or the number and validity of the resident card for foreign resident citizens for exchange purposes; ii. number and expiry date of the passport and the respective entry visa for foreign non-resident citizens for exchange purposes; iii. full name and signature; iv. date of birth; v. nationality; vi. residential address; vii. IBAN, in cases where the sender's bank account is used; b) Regarding the remittance: i. remittance amount in the currency delivered by or debited to the sender, net of any charges; ii. destination country of the funds; iii. total charges paid by the sender, excluding taxes, in the currency in which they were settled; iv. total taxes paid by the sender; v. unique reference of the operation, which must be sent to the beneficiary's remittance service provider; vi. date and time of receipt of the sender's instruction; c) Regarding the beneficiary: i. beneficiary identification data, provided by the sender, including, at a minimum, full name and address; ii. IBAN if crediting the remittance to the beneficiary's bank account is permitted; iii. BIC corresponding to the IBAN, if crediting the remittance to the beneficiary's bank account abroad is permitted.
2. In addition to other obligations provided by law, the remittance service provider must record at least the following information regarding all remittances received: a) Regarding the sender's remittance service provider: i. complete identification; ii. date and time of receipt of the information; b) Regarding the sender: i. full name; ii. sender's account number or, in the absence of an account number, the unique operation reference communicated by the sender's service provider, which allows tracing the operation back to the sender; iii. address or date and place of birth, identity card number or number and validity of the resident card for foreign resident citizens for exchange purposes, number and expiry date of the passport and respective entry visa for foreign non-resident citizens for exchange purposes, or sender's identification number; c) Regarding the beneficiary, when the withdrawal of funds is in person at the service provider's counters: i. identity card number and expiry date for national citizens or number and validity of the resident card for foreign resident citizens for exchange purposes, number and expiry date of the passport and respective entry visa for foreign non-resident citizens for exchange purposes; ii. full name and signature; iii. residential address; iv. date of birth; v. nationality; d) in cases where a bank account is used to credit the beneficiary: IBAN; e) Regarding the remittance: i. remittance amount in the currency received from the sender's remittance service provider; ii. country of origin of the funds; iii. amount delivered to the beneficiary, in the corresponding currency; iv. total charges paid by the beneficiary, excluding taxes, in the currency in which they were settled; v. total taxes paid by the beneficiary.
3. The recording of the information mentioned in point i) and iii) of paragraph b) of paragraph 2 of this Article does not apply in the case where the payment service providers of the sender and beneficiary are both located in Angola.
4. The sender's service provider is obliged to verify the sender's identity against the identification documents presented in accordance with point i) of paragraph a) of paragraph 1 of this Article.
5. In cases where the remittance order is communicated electronically and non-presentially, and where the sender is already a client of the remittance service provider, so that the latter has the user identification elements contained in point i) of paragraph a) of paragraph 1 of this Article, the identification of the sender may be based on a unique user identification and a secret code, capable of being validated by the service provider.
6. The beneficiary's service provider is obliged to verify the beneficiary's identity against the identification documents presented in accordance with point i) of paragraph c) of paragraph 2 of this Article.
7. The sender's service provider is obliged to control the remittances ordered by its clients in accordance with the rules contained in Article 7.
8. The sender's service provider is obliged to execute the received order in the shortest possible time and, at the latest, by the beginning of the next business day following the date referred to in paragraph a) of paragraph 2 of Article 9 of this Notice.
9. The information referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article must be kept for a period of 10 years, starting from the day the remittance was ordered or the information was received.

Article 9 Information to be Provided to the Sender

1. Remittance service providers must make available the following information and conditions before providing the service: a) regarding the remittance service: i. a description of the main characteristics of the service; ii. the information to be provided by the sender so that a remittance can be executed properly; iii. how the moment of receipt of the remittance order is defined; iv. the method and procedures for revoking the remittance order; v. the maximum execution time applicable to the provision of the service; b) regarding charges and exchange rates: i. all types of charges to be paid by the sender and the method of determining them; ii. the method of determining the exchange rate applied to the remittance.
2. Immediately after receiving the remittance order, the sender's remittance service provider must provide the sender, or make available to them, the following information: a) the moment of receipt of the remittance order; b) a reference that allows the sender to identify the remittance and, if applicable, information regarding the beneficiary; c) the identification of the beneficiary, according to what was informed by the sender; d) the remittance amount in the currency used in the remittance order; e) the amount of any remittance charges that the sender must pay and their respective breakdown; f) the exchange rate applied to the remittance by the sender's payment service provider, as well as the amount of the payment operation after this currency conversion.
3. It is the responsibility of the remittance service provider to prove that it has complied with the information requirements established in this Article.

Article 10 Information to be Provided to the Beneficiary Upon the execution of a remittance, the beneficiary's remittance service provider must provide the beneficiary, or make available to them, the following information: a) the moment when the funds were delivered to the beneficiary or, if applicable, the value date of the credit to the account; b) the identification of the sender; c) the amount received in the currency in which the funds are made available to the beneficiary; d) the amount of any service charges that the beneficiary must pay and their respective breakdown; e) if applicable, the exchange rate applied to the remittance by the beneficiary's remittance service provider, as well as the remittance amount before this currency conversion.

Article 11 Information to be Provided to the Bank of Angola Remittance service providers must send to the Bank of Angola the information elements to be defined, in the format and periodicity established by the Bank of Angola.

Article 12 Deadline for Adapting Procedures Institutions providing remittance services must adapt their procedures to the provisions of this Notice within a maximum period of 60 (sixty) days, counting from the date of its publication.

Article 13 Penalties Violations of the provisions of this Notice are punishable, in accordance with Law No. 5/2005 of July 29, Angola Payment System Law, and Law No. 3/2011 of January 14, National Statistical System Law.

Article 14 Doubts and Omissions Doubts and omissions arising from the interpretation and application of this Notice shall be resolved by the Bank of Angola.

Article 15 Repealing Clause All instruments that contradict the provisions of this Notice are hereby repealed.

Article 16 Entry into Force This Notice enters into force immediately.

PUBLISH Luanda, June 2, 2011

THE GOVERNOR JOSÉ DE LIMA MASSANO