Financial Information Unit Approves New Risk-Based Supervisory Procedures

The Financial Information Unit (UIF) issued Resolution No. 61/2023, published in the Official Gazette on April 14, 2023, approving the “UIF Risk-based Supervisory Procedure” to monitor if reporting entities (SO) comply with the obligations of identifying, evaluating, monitoring, managing, and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/FT) risks. The procedure also seeks to prevent the risk of third parties using assets to commit ML/FT crimes, following international standards and the results of the Financial Action Task Force national assessments.

The resolution, in force since the day it was published, repeals the previous regulations in Resolution UIF No. 154/2018 and article 39 paragraph 2 of Resolution UIF No. 21/2018, article 44 of Resolution UIF No. 28/2018, and article 39 of Resolution UIF No. 76/2019.

The new regulation incorporates a monitoring procedure with a risk-based approach to carry out a continuous and systematic review of SO’s activities, to identify new risks or irregular behaviors, and to verify compliance with customer due diligence measures and the corresponding systematic reporting, among others.

Finally, it eliminates the regularization plans, establishing instead corrective compliance actions that are suitable and proportional, applicable with a risk-based approach within the framework of the supervision procedures, aim at correcting situations of major non-compliance, remedying minor non-compliances, and/or preventing So’s non-compliance with AML/FT rules.

The corrective actions may materialize:

a) issuing specific orders of immediate or progressive compliance, setting a deadline for their implementation,

b) sending periodic reports regarding the progress of the measures SO implement,

c) holding meetings with the Compliance Officer and/or with the So’s highest authorities, as well as with the person/s in charge of controlling AML/FT internally.