Financial Institutions Must Verify Trustee Identity and Politically Exposed Persons

The Financial Obligations Regulations, 2010 have introduced new requirements for financial institutions and listed businesses to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. These regulations aim to ensure that financial institutions verify the identity of trustees and politically exposed persons (PEPs) before entering into any business relationship.

Verification Requirements

Under these regulations, financial institutions and listed businesses are required to:

Obtain evidence of the appointment of a trustee, including certified copies of Deeds of Trust
Verify the nature and purpose of the trust
Establish the identity of the trustee

Additionally, financial institutions and listed businesses must put in place measures to determine whether an applicant for business is a PEP. This includes identifying individuals who hold public office or have held such office within the past year.

PEP Identification and Verification

Financial institutions and listed businesses are required to take reasonable measures to:

Determine the source of wealth
Determine the source of funds

Correspondent Banking Relationships

The regulations also cover correspondent banking relationships, where one bank provides financial services to another bank in a foreign country. Correspondent banks must:

Collect sufficient information about their respondent banks
Understand the nature of the business they are undertaking
Assess the anti-money laundering controls of the respondent bank

Prohibited Relationships

Financial institutions and listed businesses are prohibited from entering or continuing a correspondent banking relationship with a bank that is incorporated in a jurisdiction where it has no physical presence or is unaffiliated with a financial group regulated by a supervisory authority in a country where the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendations are applicable.

Anti-Money Laundering Controls

Financial institutions and listed businesses must:

Pay special attention to money laundering patterns that may arise from new or developing technology
Take appropriate measures to treat with such patterns
Put special know-your-customer policies in place to address the specific concerns associated with non-face-to-face business relationships or transactions

Implementation and Effectiveness

These regulations aim to strengthen the anti-money laundering controls of financial institutions and listed businesses, thereby reducing the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. The regulations came into effect on [date] and apply to all financial institutions and listed businesses operating in Trinidad and Tobago.

Note: Please replace [date] with the actual date mentioned in the original article text.