Legal Compliance indicates Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Services whereby ‘subject persons’ are obliged by law to comply with the various local and international rules, regulations, directives, and guidelines that are frequently issued.
LEGAL COMPLIANCE
ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING DOCUMENTATION
Obligations
Whether you are a Notary, Accountant, CSP, Real Estate Agent, or any other subject person, you are required to have measures, policies and procedures in place that are adequate to prevent the carrying out of operations that are related to money laundering or funding of terrorism.
The AML manual, which forms part of the entire compliance management system, lays down the internal procedures subject persons should adopt to identify and mitigate these illegal transactions.
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) forms enable subject persons to collect information on their clients which is then checked with the Customer Acceptance Policy in order to determine whether the client is associated with any risks.
Support
LEXCO provides all the necessary support to help you be compliant with AML legal obligations. Our experienced and dedicated compliance team is always available to provide real-time support whenever you have a practical query, whether related to initial onboarding, source of funds, source of wealth, filling of forms, or related to a more complex issue such as legal interpretation, Suspicious Transaction Reporting, or support with reports required by the MFSA and FIAU.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Risk Assessment policies, procedures, and tools must be developed and implemented to ensure that clients are properly risk assessed prior to onboarding or the carrying out of an occasional transaction, and also during the term of the business relationship.
Every subject person shall take appropriate risk-assessment steps, proportionate to the nature and size of its business, to identify and assess the risks of money laundering and funding of terrorism that are associated with the company’s business model and clients.
Risk Management Assistance
LEXCO assists our clients with the drafting of the risk management policy and procedure to identify all risks, including but not limited to AML/CFT risks.
SANCTION SCREENING
As part of the Customer Due Diligence (CDD), subject persons should have a system in place which detects whether prospective or existing customers, whether natural or legal persons, are subject to any International sanctions. In order to function efficiently, the sanction screening system adopted by subject persons must be frequently updated by the UN Security Council or the EU in connection with terrorism or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
When carrying out CDD in relation to a business relationship or an occasional transaction, subject persons shall be required to screen customers to determine whether they are designated persons or entities. Other checks on adverse media and politically exposed persons (PEPs) databases shall also be performed.
CUSTOMER DUE DILIGENCE
Customer Due Diligence must be carried out both at on-boarding stage as well as on an on-going basis throughout the term of the business relationship. Subject persons are obliged to collect information on the identity of the customer (and any beneficial owners if dealing with body corporates), the nature of the business and any transactions which will take place during the business relationship, the Source of funds of the customer and the Source of Wealth. Verification checks on the identity of the customer and the beneficial owners (if any) need to be conducted whilst verification checks on the Source of Funds and Source of Wealth need to be conducted on a Risk-Sensitive basis.
AML/CFT TRAINING
Subject persons are required to provide employees with regular training to ensure that they are kept aware of the latest AML/CFT policies, procedures and relevant legislations. LEXCO’s compliance team frequently undergo training to make sure that they offer our clients high quality support with up-to-date information.
COMPLIANCE AUDITS
Every subject person shall be required to implement, where appropriate with regard to the size and nature of the business, an independent audit function to test the internal measures, policies, controls and procedures. The objective of such audits is to help you and your firm become, and remain, compliant with the relevant rules, regulations and legal standards.
The audits may take the form of a regulatory compliance audit, a purely anti-money laundering compliance audit, or a mix of both. The scope of the audit will be determined following discussions with the client.
Our Compliance Audits consist of 5 steps:
- A meeting with the Company’s key personnel
- Review of Client Files
- Review of the Company’s system/s, policies and procedures
- Post-Audit Report
- Follow-Up Meeting
These assessments prepare our clients for any inspections with the relevant authorities, as any deficiencies encountered by LEXCO officials will be duly flagged in our post-audit report, and recommendations for remediations will be offered.