They must submit monthly reports and have customer knowledge files, among others.
The loans that are made between companies of the same business group are considered by the authority as a vulnerable activity, therefore they have to comply with the regulations in order to prevent or detect any sign of money laundering in these operations.
“The granting of mutual or credit between companies of the same business group will be considered a vulnerable activity; However, it will not be subject to the presentation of notices as long as the operation is made through financial institutions, for example, that the credit is dispersed by a bank transfer or a check ”, detailed Federico De Noriega Olea, partner of the Hogan Lovells signature.
De Noriega Olea stated that, with this update of criteria, now companies that carry out credit operations with other companies in the same business group are subject to anti-money laundering obligations that they did not previously have, such as registering as a vulnerable activity, submitting monthly reports, and with customer knowledge files and have a money laundering prevention manual, among others.
“Although companies are exempted from reporting operations between related parties, this already generates the administrative burden of registering, having a manual and presenting zero notices, that is the great change derived from the same criterion,” explained the representative of Hogan Lovells.
He also noted that these types of operations are common between companies of the same group for cash flow or decentralized treasury purposes. In this context, he explained that possibly many companies that carry out this activity may not be prepared for this change in criteria, since before they did not have to comply with the regulations.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) made this update on January 18, so the companies that carry out these operations must already comply with the standard to avoid fines that can range from 18,000 pesos to 5.9 million pesos.
Obligations for these companies:
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Register as a subject bound by law.
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Submit monthly “zero” reports to the authority.
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Have an internal compliance policy.
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Identify customers and users.
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Update unique customer files.
Source: The Economist
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