Financial Institutions (Agent Banking) Regulations, 2017

STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
SUPPLEMENT No. 22 14th July, 2017
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS SUPPLEMENT to The Uganda Gazette No. 39, Volume CX, dated 14th July, 2017. Printed by UPPC. Entebbe, by Order of the Government. STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS 2017 No. 39. THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (AGENT BANKING) REGULATIONS, 2017. ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS. Regulation

1. Title
2. Application
3. Objectives
4. Interpretation
   Part I—P r elim in a r y
   Part II —Ag ent B anking
5. Approval to conduct agent banking
6. Persons eligible to be agents
7. Pre-requisites for conducting agent banking
8. Grant of approval
   Part III—P rincipal-A g en t R ela tio n sh ip
9. Obligations of a principal
10. Agency agreement
11. Non-exclusivity
12. Termination of agency agreement
13. Treatment of agent and it’s outlets
14. Permissible activities
15. Prohibited activities
16. Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism
17. Consumer protection

Regulation
Part IV —Supervision
18. Supervision
19. Reporting and notification requirements
Part V —M isc ella n eo u s
20. Remedies and Administrative measures
SCHEDULES
Schedule 1
Form 1 — Application form for approval to conduct agent banking Form 2 —Agent suitability and assessment form
Schedule 2
Agent banking operations
Schedule 3
Agent notification form

STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
2017 No. 39.
The Financial Institutions (Agent Banking) Regulations, 2017. (Under sections 4(2b) and 131(lb) of the Financial Institutions Act, Act No. 2 o f 2004) In exercise of the powers conferred upon the Central Bank by section:
4(2b) and 131 (1 b) of the Financial Institutions Act, 2004, and ir consultation with the Minister responsible for finance, these Regulation:
are made this 21st day of June, 2017.
Pa r t I—P r e l im in a r y

1. Title
   These Regulations may be cited as the Financial Institutions (Agen Banking) Regulations, 2017.

2. Application
   These Regulations apply to all financial institutions in Uganda and thei agents.

3. Objectives
   The objectives of these Regulations are— (a) to provide for agent banking as a delivery channel for offering banking services in a cost effective manner to foster financia inclusion; (b) to set out activities which may be carried out by an agent anc to provide a framework for offering agent banking services and (c) to provide a set of minimum standards of customer protectioi and risk management to be adhered to in the conduct of agen banking.

4. Interpretation
   In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires— “Act” means the Financial Institutions Act, Act No.2 of 2004; “agent” means a person contracted by a financial institution to provide financial institution business on behalf of the financial institution in accordance with the Act and these Regulations; i “agent banking” means the conduct by a person of financial institution business on behalf of a financial institution as may be approved by the Central Bank; “branch” means a place of business which forms a legally dependent part of a financial institution and which conducts directly all or some of the operations inherent in the business of the financial institution; “financial institution” means a company licensed to carry on or conduct financial institutions business in Uganda and includes a commercial bank, merchant bank, mortgage bank, post office savings bank, credit institution, a building society, an acceptance house, a discount house, a finance house, an Islamic financial institution or any institution which by regulations issued under the Act is classified as a financial institution by the Central Bank; “parent branch” means the branch responsible for the operations of , an agent or agent outlet; “principal” means a financial institution that contracts an agent to < do any act for him or her, to represent him or her, in dealing with a third party; “real time” means the electronic processing of instructions instantaneously upon data entry or receipt of a command;

“suspicious transaction” refers to a transaction which is inconsistent with a customer’s known legitimate business or personal activities or with the normal business for that type of account or business relationship, or a complex and unusual transaction or complex or unusual pattern of transaction; “two-factor authentication” refers to the identification of a user by means of the combination of two different components which the user knows, possesses or something that is inseparable from the user. P a r t I I — A g e n t B a n k in g
5. Approval to conduct agent banking
(1) A financial institution shall not conduct agent banking in Uganda without the prior written approval from the Central Bank. (2) An application for approval to conduct agent banking shall be made to the Central Bank in Form 1 specified in Schedule 1. (3) An application shall provide the following information— (a) the strategy for agent banking including— (i) the number of agents per district for the next twelve months; (ii) management of the agent network including agent training, agent supervision and liquidity management. (b) the proposed technology platform to run the agent banking, which must be capable of processing instructions issued electronically in real time; (c) the agent selection due diligence policy and procedures; (d) the policies and procedures applicable to the provision of services through agents; and (e) the services intended to be provided through agents;

(4) The application shall be accompanied with the following supporting documents— (a) a draft of the agency agreement between the financial institution and the agent; and (b) a risk management framework for agent banking. (5) In addition to the requirements in subregulation (2), the Central Bank may request for additional information as it may consider necessary.
6. Persons eligible to be agents
(1) A person shall not be appointed as an agent by a financial institution unless that person is— (a) a sole proprietorship; (b) a partnership; (c) a company; (d) a cooperative society; (e) a microfinance institution; or (f) an entity approved by the Central Bank. (2) A financial institution shall not conduct agent banking with its employees, affiliates or associates.
7. Pre-requisites for conducting agent banking
(1) A financial institution shall put in place an effective agent selection process and carry out due diligence on every person it intends to engage as an agent. (2) A person shall not be appointed as an agent, unless the person— (a) has for consecutive six months prior to the making of the application operated an account in a financial institution licensed by the Central Bank;

(b) has a licensed business;
(c) has a physical address;
(d) has adequate and secure premises; and (e) has been engaged in the licenced business under subregulation (2)(b) for at least twelve months. (3) A financial institution shall conduct a suitability assessment on the person using Form 2 specified in Schedule 1. (4) Notwithstanding subregulation (1), the Central Bank shall vet and approve each person selected by a financial institution to act as it’s agent for purposes of conducting agent banking.
8. Grant of approval
Where the Central Bank is satisfied that all the application requirements have been satisfied by a financial institution, the Central Bank shall, within three months of receipt of all the requisite information, communicate its decision regarding the application to the financial institution. Pa r t III — P r in c ip a l - A g e n t R e l a t io n s h ip
9. Obligations of a financial institution
(1) A financial institution approved to conduct agent banking is liable for the actions or omissions of it’s agent relating to agent banking. (2) A financial institution shall— (a) assign each agent or agent outlet a unique identification number; (b) assign each agent or agent outlet to a specific parent branch; (c) display a list of agents at the agents’ respective parent branch; (d) ensure that the technological infrastructure supporting agent banking runs effectively;

(e) put in place adequate and secure technological infrastructure capable of processing all transactions in real time; (f) ensure that agents have appropriate equipment to carry out agent banking, including the ability to generate hard copies of transaction receipts; (g) ensure that agents receive appropriate training and are provided with the necessary manuals and supporting tools and procedures; (h) ensure appropriate management and supervision of all agents; (i) set limits and monitor compliance within such limits; (j) ensure that all agents provide services in accordance with consumer protection requirements determined by the Central Bank; (k) compensate agents for the services rendered as per the contract; (l) update the Central Bank periodically on its agent network in accordance with regulation 19; (m) ensure that all agents comply with the requirements of these Regulations. (3) Subject to subregulation (4), an agent shall not use as part of its name words like “bank”, “financial institution”, “financial intermediary” or their derivatives or any other word suggesting that the agent is itself a financial institution; (4) An agent who is permitted under any applicable law to use the words “bank”, “financial institution”, “financial intermediary” or their derivatives or any other word suggesting that the agent is itself a financial institution is exempted from the generality under subregulation (3).

10. Agency agreement
    (1) A financial institution approved to conduct agent banking shall enter into a written agreement with each agent before the agent conducts business on behalf of the financial institution. (2) A person shall not offer financial services on behalf of a financial institution without a valid agency agreement. (3) An agency agreement under subregulation (1), shall — (a) specify the liability of any acts or omissions of the agent to the extent of the agent’s express or implied authority, to be born by the financial institution; (b) set out the services to be provided by the agent; (c) set out the activities the agent is prohibited from engaging in; (d) provide for the remuneration arrangement; (e) set out the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism arrangements including a requirement for an agent to report suspicious transactions to the financial institution; (f) provide the responsibilities and liabilities of the agent and the financial institution; (g) require that all information or data the agent collects in relation to agent banking is property of the financial institution and subject to data protection requirements; (h) provide for the power of the Central Bank to access any information, systems and premises related to the agent; (i) set out transaction limits of the agent; (j) specify the terms and conditions of termination of the agent agreement;

(k) provide that the Central Bank can direct the termination of the agreement as it deems appropriate; (l) set out transitional clause on rights and obligations of the financial institution- and the agent upon termination or cessation of the agency agreement; (m) specify that employees of the agent shall not be treated as employees of the financial institution.
11. Non-exclusivity
(1) An agreement between a financial institution and an agent shall not include a provision prohibiting the agent from conducting agent banking with other financial institutions. (2) An agent may provide agent banking for other approved financial institutions provided that— (a) the agent has entered into an agency agreement with each financial institution for provision of agent banking services; and (b) the agent has the capacity to manage the transactions for the different financial institutions. (3) A financial institution shall assess the capacity of an agent to manage transactions for different financial institutions under subregulation (2)(b) in terms of— (a) space; (b) technology; and (c) adequacy of funds or float of the agent. (4) Without prejudice to subregulation (2), an agent shall not be discriminated against on grounds of providing agent banking services to more than one financial institution.

(5) For purposes of subregulation (4), “discriminate” means to give different treatment to different agents attributed only or mainly to their respective agent banking with more than one financial institution.
12. Termination of agency agreement
(1) Every agency agreement shall provide for termination of the agreement. (2) Notwithstanding subregulation (1), an agency agreement may be terminated by the financial institution, if an agent— (a) carries on agent banking when its licenced business has ceased; (b) is convicted of a criminal offence involving fraud, dishonesty or other financial impropriety; (c) sustains a financial loss or damage to such a degree which, in the opinion of the financial institution, makes it impossible for the agent to gain its financial soundness within three months from the date of the loss or damage; (d) is being dissolved or wound up through court or otherwise; (e) in case of a sole proprietor, he or she dies or becomes mentally incapacitated; (f) transfers, relocates or closes its place of agent banking without prior written consent of the financial institution; (g) fails to renew or does not hold a valid business licence; or (h) contravenes these Regulations. (3.) Where an agency agreement is terminated, the financial institution shall cause a notice of the termination to be published within the locality of the premises where the agent was operating or in any other way or manner as to inform the general public of the cessation of the agency agreement.

13. Treatment of agent and its outlets
    (1) An agent with an outlet whose operations or activities are managed, controlled, supervised or subject to the direction of the head office of the agent and has no separate legal existence from it, shall be
    part of the agent for purposes of qualifying to be an agent.
    (2) An agent shall be liable for any acts or omissions of its outlet. (3) Notwithstanding subregulation (1) and (2), a financial institution shall obtain approval from the Central Bank for each outlet of its agent.
14. Permissible activities
    (1) An agent may provide any of the following services in conducting agent banking— (a) the collection and forwarding of information and supporting documents for account opening or applications for payment instruments; (b) cash deposit and cash withdrawal; (c) the payment services including bill payments; (d) money transfers; (e) facilitating disbursement and repayment of loans; (f) the receipt and forwarding of documents in relation to loans and leases and any other permitted products; (g) payment of retirement and social benefits; (h) account balance enquiry; (i) the provision of account statements; (j) the provision of a communication and distribution channel for the institution; (k) any other activity as the Central Bank may approve.

(2) A financial institution shall determine, based on risk assessment and due diligence on the agent, which of the activities under subregulation (1) an agent shall provide.
15. Prohibited activities
(1) An agent shall not—
(a) offer financial institution business on its own accord, except where it is the agent’s principal business as at the time of engagement; (b) continue with the agency banking where it has a proven criminal record involving fraud, dishonesty, integrity or any other financial impropriety; (c) provide, render or hold out to be providing or rendering any banking service which is not specifically permitted in the agency agreement; (d) operate or carry out a transaction when the system is down or when there is any communication failure in the system, or in the customer’s absence; (e) carry out a transaction when a system generated receipt or acknowledgement of the transaction cannot be generated; (0 charge fees directly to customers; (g) undertake cheque deposits or encashment of cheques; (h) distribute cheque books; (i) distribute debit cards, credit cards or PIN mailers; (j) conduct foreign exchange transactions; (k) subcontract other persons to provide agency banking services;

(1) provide agency banking services at a location other than the physical address of the agent; (m) open accounts, grant loans or advances or carry out any appraisal function for purposes of opening an account or granting of a loan or any other facility except as may be permitted by any other written law to which the agent is subject; or (n) be a guarantor to the financial institution’s clients. (2) A financial institution shall stop all agent banking relations with its agent, if in the opinion of the financial institution, the agent’s licenced business has ceased or significantly diminished;
16. Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of
terrorism.
(1) A financial institution shall train its agents on anti-money laundering and combating of financing of terrorism requirements as provided for in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2013 and Anti￾Terrorism Act, 2002. (2) A financial institution shall set limits for purposes of combating money laundering and terrorist financing. (3) The financial institution shall notify the Central Bank of the limits set under subregulation (2) or any revisions made on the limits. (4) For avoidance of doubt, the Central Bank reserves the right to direct a revision of any limits set under subregulation (2).
17. Consumer protection.
(1) A financial institution granted approval to conduct agent banking under these Regulation shall— (a) put in place adequate policies and procedures to address financial consumer protection; and

(b) ensure that all its agents conduct business in accordance with consumer protection requirements applicable to the financial institution. (2) Subject to subregulation (1), a financial institution shall also ensure that— (a) every transaction— (i) is effected in real time; (ii) requires at least two-factor authentication; and (iii) generates a standard, easily identifiable copy system receipt or acknowledgement with the name of the financial institution, unique identification number of the agent who processed the transaction and a unique transaction reference number; (b) the agent clearly displays in a conspicuous place at its premises of operation of agent banking— (i) the signage of the financial institution which shall include the responsible parent branch, the agent’s unique identification number and the dedicated telephone line through which customers can contact the financial institution; (ii) a list of the services offered and the prohibited activities; (iii) a written notice that no charges or fees are levied at the agent location; and (iv) all fees and charges imposed on services or products under agent banking. (c) the agent shall avail for inspection key facts documents for products which are being advertised or offered through the agent;

(d) complaints are handled by the financial institution in an appropriate and effective manner, such that— (i) information about procedures for handling complaints is easily available at an agent’s location or its outlet; (ii) every agent is trained on receiving complaints and handling their resolution or escalation; (iii) a dedicated toll free telephone line for complaint resolution is provided; and (iv) all records are kept for each complaint lodged; (e) both the financial institution and it’s agent shall uphold— (i) privacy and confidentiality of customer information and data; and (ii) data protection. P a r t IV—S u p e r v is io n
18. Supervision
(1) A financial institution shall ensure that all its agents comply with these Regulations and other relevant regulatory provisions. (2) Notwithstanding subregulation (1), the Central Bank has power to— (a) request for any information from an agent at any time where it deems it necessary; (b) carry out an examination of an agent; (c) appoint an appropriate professional at the cost of the financial institution, to conduct a special audit on an agent banking service; (d) direct an agent to take any action or cease from any conduct as it may be deemed necessary;

(e) direct the termination of an agency agreement or closure of an agency business as it deems it fit; or (f) direct a financial institution to take measures against an agent.
19. Reporting and notification requirements
(1) A financial institution shall provide monthly reports to the Central Bank on its agent banking operations as specified in Schedule 2. (2) Unless otherwise advised by the Central Bank, a financial institution shall notify the Central Bank at the end of every month of— (a) new agents; (b) new outlets of agents proving agent banking; (c) exited agents and outlets; and (d) any changes made to particulars of each agent as specified in
Schedule 3.
P a r t V—M is c e l l a n e o u s
20. Remedial measures and administrative sanctions
(1) Where the Central Bank determines that a financial institution is not in compliance with these Regulations, it may impose any or all of the corrective actions prescribed in Part IX of the Act. (2) In addition to the remedial measures prescribed in subregulation (1), the Central Bank may impose any or all of the following administrative sanctions with regard to a financial institution that fails to comply with these Regulations:
(a) suspension of establishment of new agent locations; (b) prohibition from engaging in any further agent banking; or (c) any other sanctions as the Central Bank may deem appropriate.

SCHEDULE 1
reg 5(2)
FORM 1
THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (AGENT BANKING) REGULATIONS 2017 APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL TO CONDUCT AGENT BANKING
PART I: GENERAL INFORM ATION

1. Name of Financial Institution:__________________________________

2. Contact information
   a) Postal address and telephone numbers:
   b) Physical address:
   c) Building:
   d) Street:
   e) District:
   0 Division:
   g) Town:
   h) Citv:
   PART II: PROPOSED AGENT BANKING NETW ORK INFORM ATION

3. Regional agent network information
   Region Number of agents

9. The key Services to be rendered through agents.

10. The proposed technology platform to be used in operating agent banking

11. Description of the agent selection procedures and proposed date of com￾mencing operations
    (attach the detailed selection policy and agents operational guidelines)

12. The following shall be attached to the application.
    (1) A detailed strategic plan of not less than one year. (2) A copy of the agency agreement. (3) The risk management frame work. Signed for and on behalf of (Applicant)
    Name:.....
    Signature:
    Title:.......
    Dated at th is.................. day of 20

FORM 2 reg 7 (3)
Agent Suitability Assessment Form
Name of financial institution:
M onth:
Suitability Criteria Details of your suitability find￾ings and means of verification Agent fulfils criteria (yes/ no) Name of agent:
Address:
Business entity:
Negative information from the credit reference bureaus or gathered from other sources Any criminal record in matters relating to finance, fraud, honesty or integrity Reputation (based on references from at least two people of good social standing hailing from the same lo c a lity as the person and who have known the person for at least three years, for instance, LC 1 or LC 2) Business or work experience Sources of funds The business track record of the entity in the last three years where applicable Any other matter which negatively or posi￾tively impacts on the person Overall assessment: person suitable to perform agent banking? (yes/no) Name:
Position:
Signature:
Date:

SCHEDULE 2
reg 19(1)
AGENT BANKING OPERATIONS
To be submitted by the 10th o f the following month Name of financial institution:
Month:
Total number of active agents
Number of new agents signed up during previous month Number of agents exited during previous month Number of branches serving as parent branches for agents Number of agents attached to each parent branch Number of transactions processed by agents Total Value of Transactions processed by agents Average size of transaction processed by agents Total value of deposits taken by agents Total value of withdrawals from agents Total number of fund transfer/payments processed by agents Total number of accounts opened through agents (in reporting period) Transactional limits (specify)— (a) frequency (b) values (UGX)___________________________________________ Suspicious transactions - (a) number (b) value (UGX)____________________________________________ Total number of complaints Nature of complaints (list all relevant) Complaints resolved Number, nature and value of fraud:
Number Nature Value
System uptime
Name:
Position:
Signature:
Date:

AGENT NOTIFICATION FORM
SCHEDULE 3
reg 19(2)
To be submitted by the 10th o f the following month Name of financial institution:
Month:
Part 1: New Agents or Outlets
Name of
Agent or
Outlet
Unique II) number
Place of business
Village located LC 1 District
GPS co-ordi￾nates
P.O. Box (if available) Telephone Licenced business Agent Banking Services Provided Parent Branch
Part 2: Exited Agents or Outlets
Name of
Agent or
Outlet
Unique ID number
Place of business
Village located LC 1 District
GPS co-ordi￾nates
PO Box (if available) Telephone Licensed business Agent Banking Services Provided Parent Branch Reason for exit

Part 3: Change of Agent Location
Unique ID number
Previous location
New location
Village located LC 1 Dislrict
GPS co-ordi￾nates
PO. Box
(if avail￾able)
Telephone
Li￾cenced business
Agent
Banking
Services
Provided
Parent
Branch
Reason for relocation
Name:
Position:
Signature
Date:

Cross References

1. Financial Institutions Act, Act No.2 of 2004
2. Anti-Terrorism Act, Act No. 14 of 2002
3. Anti-Money Laundering, Act No. 12 of 2013
   PROF. E. TUMUSIIME MUTEBILE,
   Governor, Bank of Uganda.