Financial Crime World

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Regulations in the Dominican Republic

Overview

The Dominican Republic has implemented a range of regulations to prevent and combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This article outlines the key points of these regulations.

Regulated Entities

  • Compliance Programme: Regulated entities are required to adopt a risk-based Compliance Programme that includes policies and procedures for AML/CFT risk assessment, mitigation strategies, high standards of hiring and continuous on-the-job training of public officers, employees, and directors.
  • Risk Assessment: Regulated entities must develop policies and procedures that include due diligence based on potential risk, taking into account simplified, extended, or reinforced measures concentrating on identification or diagnosis, measuring and control, monitoring, and mitigation.

Record-Keeping

  • Storage of Records: Regulated entities are required to store their records of transactions, due diligence measures, account files, commercial correspondence, and the outcomes of analyses made for at least 10 years after the commercial relationship has ended or after the date of the one-off transaction.

Compliance Officer

  • Appointment: Each regulated entity must appoint a Compliance Officer who holds a senior position and has the technical skills necessary to be responsible for supervising strict observance of the compliance programme.

Administrative Sanctions

  • Liability: Regulated entities, public officers, and employees are liable for administrative sanctions if they do not comply with the law. The breaches have been classified as very serious, serious, or minor.
  • Accountability: People in positions of administration or leadership in the regulated entities will be held accountable for the offences that are attributable to the legal persons where they carry out their roles.

Precautionary Freezing of Assets

  • Verification: Regulated entities must verify whether a client, real beneficiary, or potential client figures on the lists issued by United Nations by virtue of the United Nations Security Council resolutions 1267, 1988, 1718, and following.
  • Freezing of Assets: If they are found to be on these lists, the regulated entities must proceed without delay to freeze the goods or assets of the client and/or real beneficiary.

Institutional Organisation

  • Anti-Money Laundering & Financing of Terrorism Committee: The Government of the Dominican Republic has an Anti-Money Laundering & Financing of Terrorism committee, which is a collegiate body in charge of the efficient running of the system that prevents, detects, controls, and combats money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.