AMLC adopts rules on customer records digitization
The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has adopted a new set of guidelines mandating the digitization of customer records in all banks, insurance companies, and other covered persons under Republic Act (RA) No. 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, as amended (AMLA). Covered persons include entities, businesses, casinos, and professions subject to the authority and jurisdiction of the AMLC on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) matters.
The Guidelines on Digitization of Customer Records (DIGICUR Guidelines) require covered persons, including banks, to store digitized records of their customers in their own central database. The covered person’s compliance officer or other duly authorized officers are expected to retrieve customer records quickly, and, upon request or order, upload these to the AMLC’s portal, without having to request said records from branches on a per need basis. In turn, direct access to customer records in the covered person’s database would empower compliance officers and their duly authorized officers to proactively analyze by themselves the financial profile of customers, independently of the covered person’s front liners.
Adoption of the DIGICUR Guidelines puts Philippine banks at par with global banks. The AMLC is aware that compliance officers of most global banks are able to assess the financial transactions of their customers, and therefore, are able to perform effective analysis and monitoring as well as submit informative and useful suspicious transaction reports to their respective Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).
The issuance of the DIGICUR Guidelines likewise comes at a crucial time. With the Philippine economy growing among the fastest in Asia, these Guidelines provide an additional impetus for the economy to be more competitive globally, as they bring the Philippine financial system more deeply into the digital world.
Read more: AMLC adopts rules on customer records digitization