BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas urged banks to be extra cautious and observe tighter due diligence after receiving reports that “unusually” higher number of individual accounts were opened in certain banks.
Bangko Sentral, in a memorandum signed by Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla and posted on its Web site, did not name the domestic lenders that were experiencing the higher number of such transactions.
“The Bangko Sentral received information on the unusually high number of individual accounts being opened in certain banks, which, reportedly, will be used for grants or donations that will be provided by certain organization or foundation,” Bangko Sentral said.
“Banks are reminded to exercise caution and conduct appropriate customer due diligence procedures based on the risk posed by the customer,” it said.
The central bank said the customer acceptance policy of the bank should consider, among others, the background and source of funds.
It said whenever enhanced due diligence is needed, banks must require additional information other than the minimum information or documents required for the conduct of average due diligence, perform validation procedures all the information provided and obtain senior management approval for establishing business relationship.
“In this case, relevant validation procedures include, among others, establishing the legitimacy and/or validity of the source of funds of applicants who are opening accounts under similar circumstances,” it said.
In the event that the bank’s validation yielded an unsatisfactory result, Bangko Sentral said banks should deny banking relationship with the applicant.
It added that if the accounts already existed, the bank may tag these accounts, closely monitor movements or transactions and verify the sources of funding or deposits.
“These are without prejudice to filing a suspicious transaction report to the Anti-Money Laundering Council, if any of the circumstances under Section X803 of the Manual of Regulations for Banks exists,” Bangko Sentral said.
Bangko Sentral has been reminding banks to be always vigilant, especially after the $81-million stolen by cyber thieves from the account of Bank of Bangladesh in Federal Reserve in New York entered the Philippine financial system in February through a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. in Makati City.