Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Regulations in Angola

Types of Transactions, Reporting Requirements, and Thresholds

In Angola, subject entities are required to report suspicious transactions to the Unidade de Inteligência Financeira (UIF), regardless of the amounts involved. This can be done through a letter, email (comunicacoes@uif.ao), or other means indicated by the UIF.

• Reports must be accompanied by a copy of all documents collected or records made.
• No specific thresholds are mentioned in the regulations for reporting suspicious transactions.

Cross-Border Transactions Reporting Requirements

For information on cross-border transactions reporting requirements, please refer to questions 3.6 and 3.7 above and question 3.17 below.

Customer Identification and Due Diligence Requirements

Subject entities must comply with customer identification and due diligence requirements when establishing a business relationship or engaging in occasional transactions.

• These requirements include:
  • Verifying the identity of natural persons.
  • Verifying the incorporation of legal entities.
  • Identifying trusts and other legal arrangements, verifying the identity of their trustees, settlors, and beneficiaries.
  • Identifying ultimate beneficiaries.
  • Obtaining information on the purpose and nature of the business relationship.
  • Maintaining continued monitoring of the business relationship.

Special or Enhanced Due Diligence Requirements

Special or enhanced due diligence requirements are applicable in cases where:

• The client’s or operation’s nature, complexity, volume, non-habitability, lack of economic reasoning, susceptibility of being deemed as a crime, or any other high-risk factor so justifies.
• Distance operations, operations that may favor anonymity, operations involving politically exposed people, operations of banking correspondence with banking institutions located abroad.

Prohibition on Financial Institution Accounts for Foreign Shell Banks

Banks and payment service providers are prevented from establishing correspondent relationships with shell banks.

Criteria for Reporting Suspicious Activity

Subject entities must report all committed, attempted, or ongoing activities they know or reasonably suspect are connected with the offenses of money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, or any other criminal offense.

Information Sharing Mechanisms

Subject entities are obligated to promptly provide information requested by the UIF, supervisory authorities, and judicial authorities. However, we are not aware of any mechanisms facilitating information sharing between financial institutions and other businesses subject to anti-money laundering controls.

Beneficial Ownership and Control Information

There is no Central Beneficiary Register in Angola. Adequate, current, and accurate information about beneficial ownership and control of legal entities is not maintained or available to government authorities.