Regulated financial institutions are required to take a risk-based approach to customer due diligence and ongoing monitoring under the Money Laundering Regulations. Risk classification is an important parameter of the risk based KYC approach. Customer relationships pose money laundering and terrorist financing risk before the regulated financial institutions.
Classification of the customers is done under three risk categories viz. low, medium, and high. Customer’s identity, Social/financial status, Nature of business activity, Information about the client’s business and their location, etc. are some of the parameters in the risk assessment strategy of the financial institutions.
In the country like India, service providers like Riskpro offers the classification of high risk customers on the basis of Permanent Account Number which is the most widely used unique identifiers in India.
Higher Risk Customers are those who are engaged in certain professions or avail the banking products and services where money laundering possibilities are high. Financial Institutions conduct enhanced due diligence (EDD) and ongoing monitoring for higher risk customers. Risk Based approach to combat money laundering requires the financial institutions and banks to identify the high risk customers.
Indiaforensic offers a video learning program on the subject of Risk Based approach to KYC. This course helps bankers to get insights into high risk customers.
Classification of High-Risk Customers
Customer Identification situations that present a higher money-laundering risk might include, but are not restricted to:
- Customers linked to higher-risk countries
- Customers from High Risk Business sectors
- Customers who have unnecessarily complex or opaque beneficial ownership structures
- Unusual account activity
- Lack an obvious economic or lawful purpose
- Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs)
- Customers who are close relatives of PEPs
- Entities whose ultimate beneficial owner is a Politically Exposed Person.
- Customers with dubious reputations as per public information available
- Accounts of non-face- to- face- customers, etc.
- Non- resident Customers doing business in India
- Accounts of Cash intensive business such as accounts of Bullion dealers, jewelers, real estate developers, etc.
High risk customers are identified from the customer base and are monitored perpetually for potentially suspicious activities in their accounts.
Classification of Heightened Risk Customers is an important input for the bankers trying to build the Market intelligence Teams – Read More
Riskpro, which is a leading company in the domain of intelligence-as-service offers inputs that are useful for the monitoring systems of the banks. Moreover, it has created a risk management framework that helps the banks in assessing customer risk. Though Riskpro is largely India-focused it helps the global players to understand the local market reputation of the high risk customers.
The most important aspect of this solution is that it is not relying on media articles to gather intelligence. Additionally, identification of the Politically Exposed businesses is its biggest strength. It houses the records of more than 6000 politicians in India.
Certification to learn about High-Risk Customers
Indiaforensic offers dedicated certification in Risk-Based AML techniques. The certification program is completely online and offers video-learning content in addition to the prep course. Those who score 75% marks in the examination get the certification from Riskpro Learning.
