SIMPLIFIED CUSTOMER DUE DILIGENCE OBLIGATIONS – ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERRORISM FINANCING IN CAMEROON AND CEMAC
- Reduced Due Diligence Obligations
When the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing appears to them to be low, the persons referred to in Articles 6 and 7 of the Regulation may reduce the intensity of the measures provided for in Article 23. In this case, they must demonstrate to their supervisory authority that the scope of the measures is appropriate to these risks.
They are not subject to the due diligence obligations provided for in Articles 23, 24 and 25 of the regulation, provided that there are no suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing, in the following cases:
1) For customers and products that present a low risk of money laundering or terrorist financing;
2) For the client or, where applicable, the beneficial owner of the business relationship,
when it is either:
- A financial institution, established or having its registered office in one of the Member States or in a third country imposing equivalent obligations for combating money laundering and terrorist financing;
- A listed company whose securities are admitted to trading on at least one regulated market in a Member State or in a third country imposing disclosure requirements compatible with applicable legislation;
- A public authority or body, designated as such under the CEMAC Treaties, secondary Community law, the public law of a Member State, or any other international commitment entered into by a Member State, and which meets the following three criteria:
i. Its identity is publicly accessible, transparent, and certain;
ii. Its activities and accounting practices are transparent;
iii. He is either accountable to a community institution or to the authorities of a Member State, or subject to appropriate procedures for monitoring his activities;
- The beneficial owner of funds deposited in accounts held on behalf of third parties by notaries, bailiffs, or members of other independent legal professions established in a Member State or in a third country imposing equivalent obligations regarding the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, provided that information concerning the identity of the beneficial owner is made available to the institutions acting as custodians for these accounts, upon request;
3) When the persons referred to in Article 42 of the Regulation engage in insurance operations not relating to life-death or marriage-birth insurance, not linked to investment funds, not involving operations involving the formation of associations bringing together members for the purpose of pooling their contributions and distributing the resulting assets either among the survivors or among the beneficiaries of the deceased, or not involving capitalization or collective fund management or any other collective operation.
The persons referred to in Article 42 of the regulation shall collect sufficient information about their client to verify that the conditions set out in the first and third indents of paragraph 2 of this Article are met.
By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of Article 23 of the regulation, where the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing appears low, financial institutions may, when providing online payment services, under the conditions and for the categories thereof laid down by the applicable regulations, provided there is no suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing, refrain from verifying the identity of their client and, where applicable, the beneficial owner of the business relationship.
- Products not subject to due diligence obligations
Pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 52 of the regulation, the persons referred to in Article 42 of same regulation are not subject to the due diligence obligations provided for in Articles 21 to 25, provided there is no suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing, when the transaction involves the following products:
1) Life insurance contracts with an annual premium not exceeding 600,000 CFA francs or a single premium not exceeding 1,500,000 CFA francs;
2) Retirement insurance contracts without a surrender clause cannot be used as collateral and pay out as an annuity upon retirement;
3) Electronic money intended solely for the purchase of goods or services. However, as soon as a reimbursement request is made for a single amount or a total amount of 500,000 CFA francs (five hundred thousand) during the same calendar year, the persons mentioned in Articles 6 and 7 of the regulations are required to comply with the obligations set forth in Articles 21 to 25;
4) Financing of physical assets whose ownership is not transferred to the client or can only be transferred upon termination of the contractual relationship, and whose financial lease payments do not exceed 100,000,000 (one hundred million) FCFA per year, whether the transaction is carried out in a single operation or in several operations appearing to be linked, and provided that repayment is made exclusively from an account opened in the client's name with a banking institution established in a Member State;
5) Consumer credit transactions, provided they do not exceed 2,500,000 (two million five hundred thousand) FCFA and provided that repayment of this credit is made exclusively from an account opened in the client's name with the aforementioned financial institution established in a Member State.
- Derogations for online payments
Pursuant to paragraph 4 of Article 52 of the regulation, financial institutions may, provided there is no suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing, refrain from verifying the identity of their client and, where applicable, the beneficial owner of the business relationship, when providing online payment services that meet each of the following conditions:
1) The funds received from the client originate from an account opened in their name with another financial institution established or having its registered office in a Member State or in a third country imposing equivalent obligations regarding the fight against money laundering or terrorist financing;
2) The funds are destined for an account opened in the name of a beneficiary with another financial institution established in a Member State or in a third country imposing equivalent obligations regarding the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities;
3) The transaction does not exceed one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) CFA francs;
4) The total amount of transactions executed for the client during the twelve (12) months preceding the transaction does not exceed one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000) CFA francs.
- Conditions for Implementing Derogations
For the implementation of the derogations provided for in Articles 21 and 22 of the regulation, the persons referred to in Article 42 shall, in each case, collect sufficient information to establish whether the customer or the product meets the conditions required to benefit from said derogations.