AMLC ADVISORY TO COVERED PERSONS (EXCLUDING INSTITUTIONS SUPERVISED AND REGULATED BY THE INSURANCE COMMISSION AND CASINOS)

5 November 2018

Covered persons (excluding institutions supervised and regulated by the Insurance Commission and casinos) are advised that 6 November 2018 is the first day of implementation of Section 4 of AMLC Regulatory Issuance (ARI) A No. 1, Series of 2018, requiring the inclusion of the time stamp in the transaction date field for CASA, time deposit, foreign exchange and remittance transactions. All covered and suspicious transaction reports without the time stamp shall be rejected by the AMLC’s data collection system, and considered non-submission thereof.

ADVISORY ON TELEPHONE EXTORTION SCHEMES

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has become aware of telephone extortion schemes, where scammers pose as government officials and ask personal information.

Several reported instances involve automated telephone prompts, which direct the victim to a person claiming to be the police. The said person will then harass the victim of having connections to illegal drugs and demand the victim’s private details, such as SSS and bank account numbers.

Please be advised that the AMLC and its Members, as well as the AMLC Secretariat or any of its personnel, do not, and will never, contact the public and request personal or financial information, including bank account, credit card, account balance, transaction, and online account details, through telephone, mobile phone, e-mail, or other modes of communication. Appropriate investigating agencies have been alerted to trace the source of these fraudulent calls.

If you have been victimized by telephone scammers or have encountered or received information on such scams or similar deceptive schemes devised by persons identifying themselves with the AMLC, kindly e-mail the Financial Crimes Investigation Group (FCIG), AMLC Secretariat, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Read more: ADVISORY ON TELEPHONE EXTORTION SCHEMES

CASINOS, JEWELERS REGISTER WITH AMLC

In a welcome development, five (5) integrated resorts (IRs) – Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc. (Resorts World Manila); Widus International Leisure, Inc. and Widus Philippines, Inc. (Widus Hotel and Casino); Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels, Inc. (Solaire Resort and Casino); Melco Resorts Leisure (PHP) Corporation (City of Dreams Manila); and Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. (Okada Manila) – have registered with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC). Also newly registered with the AMLC are two jewelers, Divine Jewels, Inc. and Family Jewels, Inc.,

The registration was in line with AMLC issuances, namely, the AMLC Registration and Reporting Guidelines for Casinos (ARRGC), and the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing Guidelines for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP Guidelines). The ARRGC requires IRs and other casinos, including those owned/operated by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) are required to register with the AMLC within 90 days from 19 May 2018.

Under the DNFBP Guidelines, all existing DNFBPs must register with the AMLC within six months from 29 June 2018. Newly established DNFBPs must be AMLC-registered before commencement of operations.

Both the ARRGC and the DNFBP Guidelines are based on Republic Act (RA) No. 10365, which included jewelry dealers in precious stones and metals, as covered persons under RA No. 9160, or the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, as amended (AMLA). In addition, RA No. 10365 also includes as covered persons company service providers who deliver fund/securities management services for other persons, and persons and entities who, as a business, provide services to organize, create and manage companies and arrangements.

Although RA No. 10365 was enacted in 2013, the newly designated covered persons started registering with the AMLC only in 2018. The IRs and jewelers were among the very first to register since the enactment of RA No. 10365 and issuance of the ARRGC and DNFBP Guidelines.

Registration with the AMLC follows the policy guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the international policy-making body that sets standards and promotes effective implementation of measures to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

Unlike casinos and IRs that are operated by, franchised, or regulated and supervised by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), or the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO), other DNFBPs have no supervising agency. In the absence of any regulatory authority over jewelers and company service providers, the AMLC oversees compliance by DNFBPs with anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism laws and regulations, as covered persons under the AMLA.

Prior to the issuance of the ARRGC and the DNFBP Guidelines, the AMLC also issued the ARRG and its amendments to provide the legal and policy framework for registration by covered persons, such as banks, money service businesses, insurance companies, and securities dealers, into the AMLC’s online system, and to ensure proper and timely compliance with reporting procedures.

Banks have routinely required DNFBPs and casinos to register first with the AMLC before opening an account.

Click the links below to view the ARRGC and the DNFBP Guidelines.

AMLC Registration and Reporting Guidelines- Casinos (ARRGC)

Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP)

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