Rafidain Bank announced on Tuesday, the launch of its Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
A statement by the bank received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) stated that “Rafidain Bank issued its report on the stages of combating money laundering and terrorist financing and the procedures that contributed to achieving towards customers and using the best models for opening accounts and updating other customer information, in addition to obtaining monitoring and follow-up programs that prevent any illegal transactions through suspicious activities, and confronting them and informing the concerned authorities about them.”
The statement stressed that “the report reflects the extent of commitment to implementing international standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing and the efforts made by the bank to combat crimes, in accordance with international standards in this regard.”
It pointed out that “the steps to implement the AML system (Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing System) related to Rafidain Bank since its establishment and the stages that have been implemented are as follows:
1- Contracting with Capital B. Solutions Ltd on 12-17-2023 to acquire a specialized system to combat money laundering for individuals and entities that have financial activities with the bank, and according to the requirements of the Central Bank of Iraq and the Anti-Money Laundering Unit, where four programs will be implemented for the following tasks:
– Risk profiling of the bank’s customers
– Implementing the scenarios approved by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) and the requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Unit
– Monitoring unusual customer movements (Auditing and Monitoring)
– Implementing the (Go Aml) program to extract reports to detect and report suspicious transactions and upload them to the (Go Aml) platform or portal in accordance with the requirements of anti-money laundering laws and regulations and according to local and international standards.
– Screening customers’ names on local and international sanctions lists, which include a wide range of individuals, organizations and entities involved in sanctions and restrictions imposed by international organizations and governments.
– Implementing the FATCA program for US tax compliance to combat tax evasion by the bank’s customers who have US citizenship.
2- System stages
The stage of preparing system requirements.. The bank has reached advanced stages of completion, which are as follows:
– Preparing the infrastructure to operate the system (test environment) – production environment and securing communications.
– Preparing customer risk classification requirements for individuals and entities on the system according to the risk matrix that depends on the criteria (source of funds – nature of residence – type of service – area of customer activity – activity of the individual or company – nature of the individual – type of company) and the risk category (low – medium – high – very high).
– Adjusting system settings and verifying the operation of screens
– The (AML) system was linked to the banking system database (Core Bank) by extracting data from the banking system database in a secure manner and passing it to the (AML) system on a daily basis.
– Training the concerned parties from the Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Reporting Department and the Information Technology Department on the system according to the specialization and functional and technical requirements of the system, roles and powers.
3- The examination and acceptance phase (UAT) of the system, which is the current phase of the project.