Notice No. 02-2011 of June 1

BANCO NACIONAL DE ANGOLA

NOTICE NO. 02-2011 of June 1

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

Considering the need to establish consumer protection rules for financial products and services in Angola;

In accordance with the combined provisions of paragraph f) of number 1 of article 21 and paragraph d) of number 1 of article 51, both of Law No. 16/10 of July 15, the Banco Nacional de Angola Law, combined with articles 55, 56, 57, 58 and 70 of Law No. 13/05 of September 30 - Financial Institutions Law;

I HEREBY DETERMINE:

CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.
(Subject Matter)

This Notice establishes the rules and procedures to be observed by financial institutions in providing financial products and services.

Article 2.
(Scope)

The rules and procedures of this Notice apply to financial institutions subject to the jurisdiction of the Banco Nacional de Angola.

Article 3.
(Rules of Conduct)

Financial institutions, in their relations with clients, must observe the following rules of conduct:

a) Act with competence, diligence, prudence and good faith, so as not to defraud the client deliberately, negligently, imprudently, abusively, coercively or through misleading advertising in accordance with the law;

b) Respect the client's right to choose and switch products or services, as well as financial institutions;

c) Obtain relevant and necessary information from the client to assess their capacity to fulfill obligations related to requested products or services;

d) Provide clear and understandable written information on rates, commissions and other charges levied on operations;

e) Ensure that clients' personal data and their operations are not used for other purposes, except to fulfill client instructions and regulations issued by the Banco Nacional de Angola or when another legal provision expressly limits the duty of confidentiality;

f) Enable clients to access adequate and functional complaint mechanisms for the prompt resolution of problems;

g) Use resources, procedures, systems and controls necessary to ensure compliance with this and other prevailing regulations;

h) Maintain a complaint book at their premises.

CHAPTER II
PUBLIC SERVICE

Article 4.
(Operating Hours)

Financial institutions must:

a) Display in a visible location of the establishment the public service hours.

b) Notify the Banco Nacional de Angola if authorized by the competent entity to operate outside normal working days and hours;

c) Ensure that clients and the general public receive service through conventional means even in cases of alternative or electronic service;

Article 5.
(Non-Discrimination)

Financial institutions must not differentiate the offer of their products and services based on physical characteristics, gender, origin, marital status, religious and political beliefs, among persons at the same selectivity level defined by the institution.

Article 6.
(Priority Service)

Financial institutions must guarantee priority service to persons with physical disabilities or reduced mobility (temporary or permanent), the elderly, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and persons accompanied by infants, through:

a) Establishment of adequate mechanisms for priority service;

b) Development of easy access to cash desks and self-service terminals, as well as ease of circulation;

c) Establishment of appropriate structures for sensory-disabled persons (visual and hearing);

Article 7.
(Security)

1. Financial institutions must ensure the physical and property security of those accessing their premises, through the installation of video surveillance systems and other adequate means for this purpose.

2. Financial institutions must display in a visible and legible location information that the space is monitored by a video surveillance system.

3. Captured images are subject to the duty of confidentiality, in accordance with Law No. 13/05 of September 30.

CHAPTER III
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

Article 8.
(Collection of Personal Data)

1. Financial institutions should only collect information necessary for offering their products and services, maintaining accounts, assessing payment capacity, and executing client instructions in observance of the "Know Your Customer" principle.

2. Financial institutions must not collect client information related to their physical characteristics, political and religious beliefs.

Article 9.
(Confidentiality Obligation)

1. Members of the administrative or supervisory bodies of financial institutions, their employees, agents, or other entities providing services on a permanent or occasional basis, must not disclose or use information regarding facts or elements concerning clients that arise exclusively from the exercise of their functions or provision of services.

2. The duty of confidentiality does not cease upon the termination of functions or services.

3. Facts or elements of the client's relationship with the institution may only be disclosed upon written authorization by the client to the institution, specifying the recipient of the information, the purpose, and the duration.

4. Without prejudice to the cases provided in the preceding paragraphs of this article, facts and elements covered by the duty of confidentiality may only be disclosed:

a) To the Banco Nacional de Angola, within its competencies;

b) For the instruction of proceedings by order of a Judge or Public Prosecutor;

c) To the Financial Intelligence Unit, within the scope of combating and preventing money laundering and terrorist financing;

d) When another legal provision expressly limits the duty of confidentiality.

5. Within the scope of cooperation with other entities, the Banco Nacional de Angola may exchange confidential information regarding clients of financial institutions in accordance with article 62 of Law No. 13/05 of September 30 - Financial Institutions Law.

Article 10.
(Information Security)

1. Financial institutions must implement and maintain information security policies in their internal regulations regarding accounts, operation contracting, and service provision to clients, regardless of the computer system used, in order to ensure:

a) Restricted access for authorized employees;

b) Clearly defined access levels, according to employee categories allowing them to view, modify and/or destroy information;

c) Historical records enabling identification of who accessed or modified the information.

Article 11.
(Notification of Unauthorized Access)

Financial institutions must notify clients in writing whenever unauthorized access to their information and operations occurs.

CHAPTER IV
CLIENT SERVICE, COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS

Article 12.
(Client Service)

1. Financial institutions must create a specialized client service area within their organizational structure, with the objective of ensuring:

a) Continuous handling of complaints;

b) Prompt resolution of complaints;

c) That clients are informed about the progress and results of their complaints.

2. The policies and procedures of the specialized area shall be established by each institution, taking into account the following aspects:

a) Ensuring the adequacy of human, material, technological and organizational resources to achieve the above objectives and other specific ones determined by financial institutions;

b) Ensuring that statistical information on complaints is reported periodically to the Board of Directors.

c) Informing and training employees on transparency and consumer protection regulations and other applicable legislation issued by the Banco Nacional de Angola.

d) Accepting, investigating and resolving all client complaints brought to their attention within the timeframes established in this regulation and maintaining a complaint control system with corresponding statistics.

Article 13.
(Client Information)

Financial institutions must display in their branches, subsidiaries and establishments where their products are traded, in a visible and easily accessible location to the public and on their respective Internet pages, the following:

a) Information on the existence of a complaint service area of the financial institution, its objectives, electronic address, telephone numbers or any other communication channel, to ensure client access thereto.

Article 14.
(Complaint Procedures)

1. Financial institutions must establish the following procedures to handle complaints:

a) Receipt of the complaint submitted by the client, their representative or any consumer of their services and products, in writing, electronically, telephonically or registered in the institution's complaint book;

b) The complaint must contain the date, reason, period to which it relates and other relevant elements;

c) Financial institutions must assign a reference number to the complaint for future tracking and inform the client thereof;

d) Whenever an investigation takes place, the institution must notify the complainant in writing of the applicable rules and its complaint resolution policy, including the resolution timeframe, as well as the possibility of appeal to the Banco Nacional de Angola for unresolved issues.

2. The details referred to in the preceding paragraph must not contain the client's security access codes.

3. Financial institutions must not refuse any complaint.

Article 15.
(Resolution Period)

1. In the case of complaints involving only one financial institution, it must resolve them within a maximum period of 30 (thirty) days from the date of the complaint.

2. For complaints involving two or more financial institutions established in Angola, the investigating institution must present a resolution within a maximum period of 45 (forty-five) days.

3. For complaints involving one or more financial institutions not established in Angola, the investigating institution must present a resolution within a maximum period of 60 (sixty) days.

4. Financial institutions must, within a maximum period of 10 (ten) days, respond to requests from other financial institutions and investigate or provide information related to specific transactions or services.

5. Financial institutions must not charge any fees, commissions or other expenses related to the submission, investigation or resolution of complaints.

Article 16.
(Result Notification)

1. Financial institutions must provide clients with a written response regarding the investigation result.

2. The result notification must contain, at minimum, the following elements:

a) Complaint reference number;

b) Date the complaint was submitted;

c) Summarized content of the complaint;

d) Investigation result and respective justification.

3. When financial institutions recognize, following the investigation result, that they made erroneous postings due to operational errors, they must process the corresponding reversal with necessary adjustments and immediately notify the client.

Article 17.
(Appeal to the Banco Nacional de Angola)

1. The complainant may appeal to the Banco Nacional de Angola if the complaint is not resolved within established timeframes or if the result does not satisfy the client.

2. The appeal of the complaint result to the Banco Nacional de Angola must be preceded by a complaint filed with the financial institution.

3. The appeal to the Banco Nacional de Angola must be submitted in accordance with the regulations of the Central Complaint Service of the Banco Nacional de Angola.

CHAPTER V
ADVERTISING

Article 18.
(Identification, Accuracy and Transparency)

1. Advertising of financial products and services must unequivocally identify the financial institution responsible for the advertised products.

2. For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, it is sufficient to use a partial version of the legal name of the responsible entity or a trademark unequivocally associated with it.

3. Information contained in advertising messages must respect the truth and be duly updated.

4. The information referred to in paragraph 3 of this article must be verifiable at all times before the Banco Nacional de Angola.

5. Advertising of financial products and services must not omit or conceal necessary information for a correct evaluation of the characteristics of the advertised financial product or service.

6. Financial institutions must ensure that advertising of their financial products and services, when performed by third parties, complies with this Notice.

7. The rules and principles contained in this Notice apply to any means of dissemination used.

CHAPTER VI
LIABILITY

Article 19.
(Financial Institution Liability)

1. Financial institutions are liable for damages caused to consumers of their products and services resulting from a violation of this regulation, regardless of whether they were caused by the financial institution itself or a financial services operator, as defined in specific regulations.

2. Financial institutions are liable for damages that may occur in the execution of a confirmed operation when:

a) An error in executing a payment order, resulting from equipment or electronic funds transfer system failure that prevented the execution of an already accepted transaction by a terminal;

b) An error in recording or accounting for an operation by the financial institution;

c) Destruction of facilities and equipment due to causes attributable to the financial institution, resulting in client loss;

d) Violation of any other duty of the financial institution provided for in prevailing legislation;

Article 20.
(Shared Systems)

As an integral part of the funds transfer and interbank services system, financial institutions must not discharge their obligations and liabilities regarding client rights provided in this regulation and other legislation, even if the failure is attributable to another institution.

Article 21.
(Transitional Provisions)

1. To allow financial institutions to comply with the provisions of article 6 (priority service) of this Notice, a period of 180 (one hundred and eighty) days is granted from the date of publication.

2. Financial institutions must draft internal regulations regarding information security policies within 90 (ninety) days from the date this regulation enters into force.

Article 22.
(Offenses)

Offenses against the provisions of this Notice are punishable in accordance with Law No. 13/05 of September 30, the Financial Institutions Law.

Article 23.
(Repeal Clause)

All legislation contrary to the provisions of this Notice is hereby repealed.

Article 24.
(Interpretation of Doubts and Omissions)

Doubts and omissions arising in the interpretation and application of this Notice are resolved by the Banco Nacional de Angola.

Article 25.
(Entry into Force)

This Notice enters into force 30 (thirty) days after its publication.

PUBLISHED

Luanda, June 1, 2011

THE GOVERNOR
JOSÉ DE LIMA MASSANO