On June 16, 2017, the Argentine Financial Information Unit (FIU) issued Resolution 30-E/2017 (the “Resolution”) establishing the rules to be adopted and applied by certain entities when managing risks associated with Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (ML/FT).
This Resolution, which replaces FIU resolution No. 121/2011, is aimed at financial entities and foreign currency exchange offices. Under this Resolution, these entities must categorize their clients by low, medium and high risk; in accordance with the level of risk of their clients, products and services, distribution channels and geographic area.
In addition, these entities must implement a System to Prevent Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism which must include the policies, procedures and controls for identifying, assessing, mitigating and monitoring the entities´ risks of ML/FT.
This Resolution also introduces the mitigation of risks. In this sense, the Resolution establishes that mitigation measures must be adopted in accordance with the classification of risks and the statement of risk tolerance related to ML/FT. It is worth mentioning that this Resolution authorizes the abovementioned entities to outsource the identification and verification of the identity of their clients.
The Resolution introduces another new concept: the authorization to use remote methods for identifying clients. In this sense, the Resolution provides for the use of electronic media such as strict, storable and non-manipulable biometric techniques.
