Question & AnswerQ&A (BSP CIRCULAR LETTER)
The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001 (R.A. No. 9160) is a Philippine law aimed at preventing and penalizing money laundering activities. It requires covered institutions to report transactions that could be related to money laundering.
All banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), including their regular banking units, trust departments, Foreign Currency Deposit Units (FCDUs), or any other units, are covered by the reporting requirements of the Act.
A covered transaction is a transaction in cash or other equivalent monetary instruments involving a total amount in excess of Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (₱500,000) within one banking day.
A suspicious transaction is any transaction with covered institutions, regardless of amount, where there is no legal or trade purpose, improper client identification, amount not commensurate with client capacity, structuring to avoid reporting, deviations from client profile, connection to unlawful activities, or similar circumstances.
They must maintain and safely store all transaction records for five (5) years from the date of the transaction. For closed accounts, customer identification records, account files, and business correspondence must be preserved for at least five (5) years from account closure.
Covered transactions must be reported to the AMLC within five (5) working days from their occurrence, unless the Supervising Authority prescribes a longer period not exceeding ten (10) working days.
If a transaction is both covered and suspicious, the covered institution must report it as a suspicious transaction to the AMLC.
Suspicious circumstances include cases where there is no underlying legal or trade purpose, improper client identification, transactions not commensurate with client capacity, structuring to avoid reporting, deviations from client profile, involvement with unlawful activities, or analogous situations.
Yes, all units of banks and NBFIs, including trust departments and FCDUs, are covered by the reporting requirements of the Act.