| Legislative： |
Promulgated per Order of Council of Agriculture No. Nong-Jin-Zi- 1075074664A dated December 27, 2018 |
| Content： |
Article 1
These Regulations are adopted pursuant to Paragraph 3, Article 6
of the Money Laundering Control Act (referred to as the “Act”
hereunder).
Article 2
The term “agricultural financial institution” used in these
Regulations include the credit departments of farmers’
associations, the credit departments of fishermen’s
associations (collectively referred to as the “credit
departments” hereunder) and the Agricultural Bank of Taiwan.
Article 3
The Agricultural Bank of Taiwan shall establish specific
policies and procedures for correspondent banking and other
similar relationships, including at least:
1. Gather sufficient publicly available information to fully
understand the nature of the respondent institution’s
business and to determine its reputation and quality of
management, including whether it has complied with
anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism
(AML/CFT) regulations and whether it has been investigated
or received administrative sanction in connection with money
laundering or terrorist financing (ML/TF);
2. Assess whether the respondent institution has adequate and
effective AML/CFT controls;
3. Obtain approval from senior management before establishing
relationships with a respondent institution;
4. Document the respective AML/CFT responsibilities of each
party;
5. Where a correspondent relationship involves in
“payable–through accounts”, it should be satisfied that
the respondent institution has performed customer due
diligence (CDD) on customers who have direct access to the
accounts of the correspondent bank and is able to provide
relevant CDD information to the correspondent bank upon
request;
6. The banking business is prohibited from entering into
correspondent relationship with shell banks or respondent
institutions that permit their accounts to be used by shell
banks;
7. For a respondent institution that is unable to provide the
aforementioned information upon the request of Agricultural
Bank of Taiwan, Agricultural Bank of Taiwan may decline its
application to open an account, suspend transactions with
it, file a suspicious ML/TF transaction report or terminate
business relationship with it.
Article 4
An agricultural financial institution should assess ML/TF risks
before launching new products or services or new business
practices and establish relevant risk management measures to
mitigate identified risks.
Article 5
Agricultural Bank of Taiwan shall conduct domestic and
cross-border outward and inward wire transfers involving foreign
currencies in accordance with the Directions Governing Banking
Enterprises for Operating Foreign Exchange Business.
An agricultural financial institution shall conduct domestic
wire transfers involving NTD in accordance with the following
rules:
1. Provide required and accurate originator information and
required beneficiary information by any of the means below:
(1) Include information on the originator and the beneficiary
accompanying the wire transfer; or
(2) Include the account number or a unique transaction
reference number which permits the transaction to be
traced back to the originator and the beneficiary and
make information available within three business days of
receiving the request either from the beneficiary
financial institution or from appropriate competent
authorities, or immediately upon the request of a
prosecutor’s office or judicial police authority.
2. Maintain the following required information on the originator
and the beneficiary in accordance with Article 11 of the
Regulations Governing Anti-Money Laundering of Agricultural
Financial Institutions:
(1) The aforementioned originator information shall include:
name of the originator, the originator account number
where such an account is used to process the transaction
(if not available, a unique transaction reference number
that permits traceability), and any of the information
below:
A. National identity number;
B. Address; or
C. Date and place of birth.
(2) The aforementioned beneficiary information shall include:
name of the beneficiary and the beneficiary account
number (if not available, a unique transaction reference
number that permits traceability).
An agricultural financial institution that fails to conduct wire
transfers in accordance with the preceding two paragraphs is not
allowed to engage in wire transfer business.
A beneficiary agricultural financial institution shall conduct
domestic wire transfers involving NTD in accordance with the
following rules:
1. Have risk-based policies and procedures for determining when
to execute, reject, or suspend a wire transfer lacking the
information specified under Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 2
hereof, and the appropriate follow-up action.
2. Maintain the information on the originator and the
beneficiary received in accordance with Article 11 of the
Regulations Governing Anti-Money Laundering of Agricultural
Financial Institutions.
Article 6
The AML/CFT internal control system of an agricultural financial
institution and any subsequent amendment thereto shall be
approved by its board of directors (council), and shall contain
the following:
1. The policies and procedures for identifying, assessing and
managing ML/TF risks;
2. An AML/CFT program established based on ML/TF risks and
business size to manage and mitigate identified risks, which
also includes enhanced control measures for higher risk
situations; and
3. Standard operating procedures for monitoring compliance with
AML/CFT regulations and implementation of the AML/CFT
program, which shall be included in the self-inspection and
internal audit system, and enhanced if necessary.
The ML/TF risk identification, assessment and management
mentioned in Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph shall
cover at least customers, geographic areas, products and
services, transactions or delivery channels, and contain the
following:
1. A risk assessment report shall be documented;
2. The risk assessment shall consider all risk factors to
determine the level of overall risk, and appropriate measures
to mitigate the risks;
3. There shall be a risk assessment update mechanism in place to
ensure that risk data are kept up-to-date; and
4. When the risk assessment is completed or updated, the report
shall be submitted to the Council of Agriculture (referred to
as the “COA” hereunder) for recordation.
The AML/CFT program mentioned in Subparagraph 2 of Paragraph 1
hereof shall include the following policies, procedures and
controls:
1. Customer due diligence;
2. Watch list filtering;
3. Ongoing due diligence of accounts and transactions;
4. Correspondent banking business;
5. Record keeping;
6. Filing of currency transaction report (CTR);
7. Filing of suspicious ML/TF transaction report (STR);
8. Appointment of a chief AML/CFT compliance officer in charge
of compliance matters;
9. Employee screening and hiring procedure;
10. Ongoing employee training program;
11. An independent audit function to test the effectiveness of
AML/CFT system; and
12. Other matters required by the AML/CFT regulations and the
COA.
The board of directors (council) of an agricultural financial
institution takes the ultimate responsibility of ensuring the
establishment and maintenance of appropriate and effective
AML/CFT internal controls. The board of directors (council) and
senior management (secretary general) shall understand the
institution’s ML/TF risks and the operation of its AML/CFT
program, and adopt measures to create a culture of AML/CFT
compliance.
Article 7
An agricultural financial institution shall be staffed with
adequate number of AML/CFT personnel and resources appropriate
to the size and risks of its business. The board of directors
(secretary general) of the agricultural financial institution
shall appoint a senior officer to act as the chief AML/CFT
compliance officer and vest the officer full authority in
coordinating and supervising AML/CFT implementation and shall
ensure that its AML/CFT personnel and the chief AML/CFT
compliance officer do not hold concurrent positions that may
have a conflict of interest with their AML/CFT responsibilities.
In addition, the Agricultural Bank of Taiwan shall set up an
independent, dedicated AML/CFT compliance unit under the
president, legal compliance unit, or risk management unit of
the head office and such AML/CFT compliance unit shall not
handle businesses other than AML/CFT.
The dedicated AML/CFT compliance unit or the chief AML/CFT
compliance officer mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be
charged with the following duties:
1. Supervising the planning and implementation of policies and
procedures for identifying, assessing and monitoring ML/TF
risks.
2. Coordinating and supervising the implementation of the
institution-wide AML/CFT risk identification and assessment.
3. Monitoring and controlling ML/TF risks.
4. Developing an AML/CFT program.
5. Coordinating and supervising the implementation of AML/CFT
program.
6. Confirming compliance with AML/CFT regulations, including the
relevant specimen or self-regulatory rules formulated by the
related financial services association and accepted by the
Financial Supervisory Commission for recordation, or relevant
templates or self-regulatory rules formulated by the
Agricultural Bank of Taiwan and accepted by the COA for
recordation.
7. Supervising the reporting on suspicious ML/TF transactions
and on the properties or property interests and location of
individuals or legal entities designated by the
Counter-Terrorism Financing Act to the Investigation Bureau,
Ministry of Justice.
The chief AML/CFT compliance officer mentioned in Paragraph 1
hereof shall report to the board of directors (council) and the
board of supervisors (supervisors) or the audit committee at
least semiannually, and report to the board of directors
(council), the board of supervisors (supervisors) and the
secretary general or the audit committee whenever a major
regulatory violation is discovered.
Article 8
Each business unit of an agricultural financial institution
shall appoint a senior manager to act as the supervisor to take
charge of supervising AML/CFT related matters of the business
unit and the status of self-inspection conducted by the business
unit.
The internal audit unit (internal auditor) of an agricultural
financial institution shall audit the following matters and
submit audit opinions on:
1. Whether the ML/TF risk assessment and the AML/CFT program
meet the regulatory requirements and are implemented; and
2. The effectiveness of the AML/CFT program.
The president (secretary general) of an agricultural financial
institution shall oversee respective units to prudently evaluate
and review the implementation of internal control system for
AML/CFT. The chairman, president (secretary general), chief
auditor (auditor), and chief AML/CFT compliance officer shall
jointly issue a statement on internal control for AML/CFT
(see attached), which shall be submitted to the board of
directors (council) for approval and disclosed on the
institution’s website within three (3) months after the end of
each fiscal year, and filed via a website designated by the COA.
Article 9
An agricultural financial institution shall establish screening
and hiring procedures to ensure high standards when hiring
employees, including examining whether the prospective employee
has character integrity and the professional knowledge required
to perform his/her duty.
The chief AML/CFT compliance officer, the AML/CFT personnel and
the AML/CFT supervisors of the business units of an agricultural
financial institution shall meet one of the following
qualification requirements in three (3) months after
appointment/assignment to the position and the agricultural
financial institution shall set out relevant control mechanism
to ensure compliance with the provisions hereof:
1. Having served as a legal compliance or AML/CFT personnel on a
full-time basis for at least three (3) years;
2. Having attended at least 24 hours of courses offered by
institutions recognized by the COA or Agricultural Bank of
Taiwan, passed the exams, and received completion
certificates therefor. But personnel who have met the
qualification requirement for the legal compliance personnel
are deemed to meet the qualification requirement under this
Subparagraph after they have attended at least 12 hours of
training on AML/CFT offered by institutions recognized by
the COA; or
3. Having received an AML/CFT professional certificate issued by
an international or a domestic institution recognized by the
COA.
The chief AML/CFT compliance officer, the AML/CFT personnel and
the AML/CFT supervisors of domestic business units of an
agricultural financial institution shall annually attend at
least 12 hours of training on AML/CFT offered by institutions
recognized by the COA or Agricultural Bank of Taiwan or internal
or external training units consented by the chief AML/CFT
compliance officer mentioned in Paragraph 1of Article 7 herein.
The training shall cover at least newly amended laws and
regulations, trends and typologies of ML/TF risks. If the person
has obtained an AML/CFT professional certificate issued by an
international or a domestic institution recognized by the COA in
a year, the certificate may be used to substitute the training
hours for the year.
An agricultural financial institution shall annually arrange
appropriate hours and contents of training on AML/CFT for its
directors (council members), supervisors, president
(secretary general), legal compliance personnel, internal
auditors, and business personnel in view of the nature of its
business, to familiarize them with their AML/CFT duties and
equip them with the professional knowhow to perform their
duties.
Article 10
For the implementation of internal audit and internal control
system of AML/CFT of an agricultural financial institution,
the COA may, at any time, appoint an officer, or entrust an
appropriate agency (institution) to conduct an inspection
using risk-based approach. The inspection includes on-site and
off-site inspections.
When conducting the inspection in the preceding Paragraph, the
COA or the entrusted agency (institution) may order the
agricultural financial institution to provide the relevant
books, documents, electronic data files or other relevant
materials. The aforementioned materials, whether stored in hard
copy, electronic file, e-mail or any other form, shall be
provided, and the agricultural financial institution shall not
circumvent, reject or obstruct the inspection for any reason.
Article 11
These Regulations shall be effective from the date of
promulgation. |