AMLC wants tighter due diligence on delinquent firms

MANILA, Philippines — The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) wants covered entities to further strengthen their customer due diligence as part of initiatives to hasten the exit of the Philippines from the gray list of global dirty money watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In an advisory, the financial intelligence unit said all covered persons should conduct the appropriate customer due diligence on their corporate clients, including the updating of their customers’ records and information.

As mandated by the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), the AMLC said covered persons, such as banks, financial institutions, among others, should require their corporate clients to submit their latest general information sheet (GIS) as part of the ongoing customer due diligence.

The AMLC told covered persons to pay attention on the list of non-user corporations eligible to avail of amnesty and list of delinquent corporations eligible to avail of amnesty released by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The financial intelligence unit also instructed covered entities to advise the corporate clients to coordinate directly with the SEC pursuant to the notices issued in October.

The corporate regulator issued the list of companies that need to avail of the SEC Amnesty Program after to comply with the submission of annual financial statements and GIS as mandated under RA 11232 or the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines.

The list includes 22,402 companies that are in danger of having their certificates of incorporation revoked for failing to submit their GIS within five years from the respective dates of their incorporation.

The SEC also issued a list of 298,335 corporations that are in danger of being placed under the delinquent status for failing to submit their GIS for three times, consecutively or intermittently, within a period of five years.

The AMLC said covered persons should refer to the list issued by the SEC for guidance.

“The AMLC shall continue to monitor the implementation of this advisory and will issue further guidelines as needed,” the agency said.

The Philippines continues to step up efforts to bolster the effectiveness of the country’s anti-money laundering, counter terrorism financing and counter proliferation financing (AML/CTF/CPF) regime to meet the January 2024 deadline set by the Paris-based FATF.