ArmInfo. The updated RA Law "On Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism" will enter into force on July 26 this year. ArmInfo was informed about this in the press service of the Central Bank of Armenia, explaining that the law on amendments and additions to the Law on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism was fully adopted on June 30 at an extraordinary session of the RA National Assembly, and published on July 16 this year.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia in its message cites the main changes made to the law: 1. suspension of suspicious transactions and business relationships;
2. the circle of persons with political influence has been expanded;
3. the concept of a real beneficiary has been clarified;
4. correction of deficiencies identified during the application of the law;
5. Ensuring compliance with the requirements of the FATF recommendations.
Other insignificant changes of a technical nature have also been introduced into the law. For more details on the amendments to the law, see the website of the Central Bank of Armenia: https://www.cba.am/am/SitePages/FMCNewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=592.
1. The authority to suspend suspicious transactions and business relations was transferred from the Council of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia to the Center for Financial Monitoring of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia (CFM). The procedure for applying the suspension of litigation has also been changed, taking into account the need to facilitate the further process of initiating a criminal case and seizing property.
2. The extended circle of persons with political influence includes local high-ranking officials, as well as persons with significant powers in international organizations, members of their families or persons closely related to them. This category of persons qualifies for a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing (ML / TF) and additional appropriate research is required when entering into transactions with them or establishing business relationships.
3. With the clarification of the concept of the real beneficiary, the necessary steps for identifying and verifying the identity of the real beneficiary, and the requirements for documenting and preserving reasonable conclusions, are established for the persons submitting the report.
4. A number of changes related to the correction of deficiencies identified in the course of the application of the law, in particular, related to the fact that the persons submitting the report are henceforth prohibited from informing clients or other persons of information about the receipt of orders from the CFM, the purpose of which is to ensure the secrecy of the orders of the CFM and non-disclosure of suspicions third parties.
It also defines the concept of "money transfer" as a transaction carried out by a financial institution on behalf of the sender of the transfer, the purpose of which is to ensure the availability of the recipient to a certain amount in a particular financial institution, regardless of whether the sender and the recipient are the same person. The financial institution carrying out the money transfer has the right to refuse to carry out those transfers that do not meet the requirements established by law.
Changes and additions related to ensuring compliance of the RA legislation with international standards are aimed at compliance with the 1st, 10th, 12th, 13th, 18th, 21st and 25th recommendations of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), the content of which allows the law to fully comply with the lexicon of the FATF methodology.
