Διαβάστε επίσης: Παραιτήθηκαν δύο μέλη του ΔΣ της Κεντρικής Τράπεζας
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Κάποια από τα σημαντικά σημεία στο θέμα του ξεπλύματος είναι ότι “ο ανεξάρτητος ελεγκτής θα επικεντρωθεί στα μέτρα που εφαρμόζουν τα πιστωτικά ιδρύματα με σκοπό να εμποδίσουν εγκληματίες από το να είναι οι προνομιούχοι ιδιοκτήτες καταθέσεων ή δάνειών, στα χρηματοπιστωτικά ιδρύματα της Κύπρου”.
Η έρευνα θα επικεντρωθεί στις μετοχές (καταθέσεις και δάνεια) και όχι στις ροές (μεταφορές από και προς Κύπρο). Ωστόσο, στο πλαίσιο της ανάλυσης των αποθεμάτων, ο ελεγκτής θα πρέπει να διασφαλιστεί ότι τα πιστωτικά ιδρύματα διαθέτουν επαρκή γνώση της προέλευσης του προορισμού των κεφαλαίων.
Η επίσημη ανακοίνωση:
Ως συμφωνήθηκε με το Διεθνές Νομισματικό Ταμείο, την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή και την Ευρωπαϊκή Κεντρική Τράπεζα (“τρόικα”) και σε συνέχεια των αποφάσεων που έλαβε το Eurogroup τον Μάρτιο του 2013, η Κεντρική Τράπεζα της Κύπρου ανέθεσε, βάσει όρων εντολής που συμφωνήθηκαν, την αξιολόγηση της εφαρμογής του κανονιστικού πλαισίου για την παρεμπόδιση ξεπλύματος παράνομου χρήματος από τις τράπεζες σε ανεξάρτητο οίκο και την Επιτροπή Moneyval του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης.
Συναφώς, η Κεντρική Τράπεζα της Κύπρου, με τη σύμφωνη γνώμη της τρόικας, έχει αναθέσει στην ανεξάρτητη εταιρεία Deloitte Financial Advisory S.r.l., την πραγματοποίηση ελέγχου σε αριθμό Κυπριακών τραπεζών αναφορικά με την αποτελεσματικότητα εφαρμογής των μέτρων δέουσας επιμέλειας ως προς τους πελάτες τόσο σε σχέση με καταθέσεις όσο και με δάνεια. Η Deloitte Financial Advisory S.r.l. είναι συνδεμένο μέλος της Deloitte Italy S.p.A, Ιταλική εταιρεία-μέλος της Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.
Σημειώνεται ότι η Moneyval επισκέφθηκε την Κύπρο από τις 19 έως τις 31 Μαρτίου 2013 και είναι στη διαδικασία ολοκλήρωσης της αξιολόγησης της σύμφωνα με τους όρους εντολής. Ο έλεγχος της Deloitte είναι υπό εξέλιξη.
Όπως συμφωνήθηκε από όλα τα μέρη και την τρόικα, οι βασικοί όροι εντολής δημοσιεύονται ως παράρτημα στην παρούσα ανακοίνωση.
ΠΑΡΑΡΤΗΜΑ
Key elements for a third party AML audit of the effective implementation of CDD measures with regard to deposits and loans
Objective:
Assess whether Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements are effectively implemented in accordance with the Cypriot legal framework[1] and international standards for a meaningful share of the banking system’s balance sheet. Assessment should also be made about the level and composition of foreign-related deposits and loans in Cypriot credit institutions.
Scope:
Moneyval in collaboration with international experts will conduct an assessment, according to the FATF 2003 Recommendations and 2004 Methodology, of the CDD compliance in the banking sector, Moneyval will focus on the effectiveness of implementation.
An independent auditor will focus on the measures implemented by the credit institutions to prevent criminals from being the beneficial owners of customer deposits in, or loans from, Cypriot credit institutions.
All credit institutions[2], over a threshold of EUR 2 billion of total deposits (by end-2012) should be included in the exercise.
Sampling modalities to achieve the audit’s general objectives will be approved by the CBC and the program partners.
The exercise will focus on stocks (deposits and loans) rather than flows (transfers from and to Cyprus). However, in the context of the analysis of stocks, the auditor will have to ensure that credit institutions have adequate knowledge of the origin and destination of funds.
Because of time constraints, this audit will not cover the adequacy of the internal systems in place in credit institutions to detect ML/TF.
This audit will also contain an analysis of the breakdown of deposits made and loans granted by i) country of residence, and ii) by country of origin, for both the owners and beneficial owners.
The data collected will be used solely for the exercise of this implementation review.
Methodology/Sampling[3]:
The audited institutions will present the auditor with a breakdown of deposits made and loans granted by i) country of residence, and ii) country of origin, for both the owners and beneficial owners, as well as the individual share and origin of the top owners and borrowers.
Moneyval and the independent auditor will be granted access to all the information necessary to perform their respective tasks.
Process:
The auditor will perform this work in order to:
Ensure that customers were identified and that their identity was adequately verified.
Ensure that beneficial owners were identified and that reasonable measures were taken to verify their identity.
Ensure that the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship was understood and documented.
Ensure that ongoing due diligence was conducted.
Ensure that customers designated as higher risk were effectively subject to enhanced due diligence.
Ensure that unusual and/or suspicious activities/transactions on the accounts are properly detected and recorded.
Ensure that other customers and beneficial owners were risk rated and that enhanced CDD measures were applied.
The auditor will not perform any investigations, but will analyze the information provided by each bank in light of the legal framework and best practices, including with regard to risk profile.
Output:
By April 20, 2013 Moneyval and the auditor will prepare preliminary key findings on the overall credit sector’s level of compliance with the AML legal framework. These findings will not contain any confidential information and will only be shared within Moneyval, the auditor, the CBC and program partners (EC/ECB/IMF).
Upon completion of the work, Moneyval will present its assessment of the compliance with CDD measures against the FATF standards, focusing on effectiveness of implementation. Moneyval will also submit main findings and recommendation with this assessment. The results will be taken into account in Moneyval’s own processes in the future.
The auditor will present a report containing comments and conclusions with regard to both the overall credit sector’s and individual institutions’ level of compliance with the Cypriot legislation on CDD. The report should present quantitative data on the level and breakdown of deposits made by and loans granted to foreign nationals, and indicate the extent to which this data is reliable (e.g. if beneficial ownership information is not properly verified, the quantitative data might not be comprehensive).
For each bank, the auditor will also provide an individual report listing customers in the sample and related CDD compliance analysis (allocating a number by customer in order to preserve confidentiality).
The auditor will cross-check the information received from the bank as mentioned above with the results of its work.
The relevant reports from Moneyval and the auditor should be delivered to the CBC as well as to the Minister of Finance and to the program partners by 24 April 2013. The program partners will report to the Eurogroup on the level of implementation of preventive measures by financial institutions, based on the findings of Moneyval’s and the auditor’s reports.
Contracting:
The work will be carried out as follows: i) the CBC will commission an independent auditor of the utmost integrity who would be bound by the provisions of the CBC Law, and in particular by the provisions for professional secrecy therein; and ii) the President of Eurogroup Working Group will make a request for an assessment by Moneyval which could include international experts. The independent auditor should be agreed by CBC and program partners. The auditor will be contracted, in full respect of EU public procurement rules[4]. Preference should be given to an auditor with no existing business relationship with the Cypriot government, related agencies, or Cypriot financial institutions.
[1] The 2007 AML Law and the 2008 Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) Directive on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing
[2] As defined bin Art. 2.1(1) of the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive, 2005/60/EC
[3] To be agreed with the contractor, but likely to involve on-site meeting with the CBC and credit institutions.
[4] According to Directive 2004/18/EC the accelerated procedure set out in Art.38.8a allows for a shortened tender procedure (10 days if the notice was sent by electronic means, in accordance with the format and procedure for sending notices indicates in point 3 of annex VIII of the Directive.
