| | | - | Obtain complete information from the correspondent financial institution or from the transfer service provider— this applies to all domestic and international banks.
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| | | - | Reject the transaction and return the transfer if the correspondent financial institution does not respond.
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| | | - | In case a transaction was suspicious and the financial institution did not respond, it is necessary to report this to SAFIU.
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| | | - | Document the decisions that were taken in writing along with their reasons, and keep these documentary and electronic records for a period of ten years based on AML/CFT rules issued by SAMA.
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| | | - | Inbound remittances must include the name of the financial institution, the country of origin for the transfer, the name of the correspondent financial institution and the country, and the correspondent financial institution must adhere thereof. In the event of a change in the transfer originator information, the remittance center must inform the beneficiary of such change.
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| 15) | Strengthen due diligence measures when implementing remittances related to politically exposed persons such as job holders, leadership incumbents and diplomats.
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| 16) | Reject any outbound/inbound remittances from/to Saudi Arabia for any charitable or non-profit organizations, except for bodies authorized to do so according to the Rules Governing the Opening of Bank Accounts and General Operational Guidelines in Saudi Arabia.
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| 17) | When implementing any new electronic money transfer and payments systems, it must be ensured that they have the ability to prevent and detect ML/TF operations.
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| 18) | Comply with transparency standards and ensure that money transfer messages (accompanying outbound/inbound transfers) contain full information of the originator and the beneficiary.
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| 19) | Perform continuous CDD measures towards customers sending/receiving remittances and audit the operations executed throughout the period of that relationship to ensure the completeness and conformity of operations carried out with the volume of customers activity, including the source of income, noting that the task of implementing the measures of ‘KYC’ and due diligence for the transferring person rests with the party, whether foreigner or domestic, transferring the funds.
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| 20) | In cases where technical restrictions prevent the transmission of complete information of the originator that is associated with an external wire transfer along with a local wire transfer (during the period necessary for harmonizing payment systems), the intermediate remittance center - the recipient of the transfer - must keep a record of all the information received from the financial institution that issued the transfer for a period of 10 years based on the AML/CFT rules issued by SAMA, taking into account the commitment to a period not exceeding (72 working hours) to respond to any inquiries received from the correspondent bank or concerned authorities.
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| 21) | In the event of repeated cases of lack of information, and lack of cooperation of the correspondent financial institutions (banks, money changers originating the transfer, transfer services providers); transfer centers operating in Saudi Arabia should assess the relationship with such banks, money changers, or transfer services providers, and consider restricting or terminating the relationship therewith.
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| 22) | In the case of suspicion of the transactions of, or the relationship with, a correspondent financial institution or a transfer services provider from a ML/TF perspective, such cases must be reported to SAFIU immediately and documented.
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| 23) | Remittance centers operating in Saudi Arabia contracting with money transfer services providers must obtain full information of the parties of the transfer transactions that such providers execute on their behalf.
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| 24) | Remittance centers operating in Saudi Arabia must put in place, for all their transactions, effective procedures to verify that ‘KYC’ requirements and due diligence measures are met and based on the risk rate and materiality treatment; and to tighten due diligence for funds transferred from or to countries against which FATF warnings have been issued.
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| 25) | Monitor all transactions (outbound/inbound transfers) to detect abnormal patterns in activities that do not have a clear economic or legal purpose, and examine the background and purpose of those transactions to the maximum extent possible, with the results being documented in writing.
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| 26) | When there are reasonable grounds to suspect that customers’ funds, operations and transactions represent proceeds of criminal activity or is related to or associated with ML/TF operations, they must be reported to SAFIU.
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| 27) | As for domestic transfers (inside the Kingdom) that are performed exclusively through SARIE, it is necessary to ensure that the name of the transferor and his/her account number are mentioned and that they are registered and stored in the remittance center’s system for the purpose of fast retrieval of information when requested by competent authorities. It is also necessary to verify the identity of the beneficiary from the internal (inbound) transfer in accordance with the Rules Governing the Opening of Bank Accounts and General Operational Guidelines.
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| 28) | Examine the names of individuals, entities and banks originating wire transfers and their beneficiaries against lists of individuals and entities whose assets must be stopped, rejected or frozen based on local instructions issued by supervisory authorities, as well as international lists such as the United Nations lists; and take necessary action thereof.
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| 29) | Examine the names of individuals, entities and banks that are the originators of transfers or intermediaries or beneficiaries thereof against international lists, such as those of the Security Council, the United Nations, FATF, etc.. and take necessary action accordingly.
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