2018 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women

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.

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

Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Advisory

A copy of the "2018 Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9160, otherwise known as the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, as Amended" may be viewed and downloaded.

Click Here to Download.