Basel Committee Due Diligence Guidelines for Banks
Year of creation: 2001 and 2008
Developed by: Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
Description: The 20 member Basel Committee, established by the BIS, formulates broad supervisory standards and guidelines and recommends best practices in the expectation that individual authorities will implement them through detailed and tailor-made arrangements. The aim is a move towards common approaches and common standards without attempting detailed harmonisation of member countries' supervisory techniques. One of the Basel Committee's initiatives is to benchmark know-your-customer (KYC) policies for banks, most closely associated with the fight against money laundering. The 2001 Guidelines on Customer Due Diligence for Banks provide precise guidance on the essential elements of KYC standards and their implementation. These standards may need to be supplemented and/or strengthened by additional measures tailored to the risks of particular institutions and risks in the banking system of individual countries. The need for due diligence standards is not restricted to banks and need to be developed for all non-bank financial institutions and professional intermediaries of financial services, such as lawyers and accountants. See also the Basel Committee's more recent recommendations for due diligence and transparency regarding cover payments related to cross-border wire transfers.
Key elements:
Wolfberg Group Anti-Money Laundering Principles
Year of creation: 2000
Developed by: The Wolfberg Group, Banco Santander, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Glodman Sachs, HSBC, JP MorganChase, Société Générale, UBS.
Description: The Wolfsberg Group is an association of eleven global banks, which aims to develop financial services industry standards and related products for Know Your Customer, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing policies. The Wolfberg Group has developed a number of principles and guiding documents, which aim to provide guidance with regard to a number of areas of banking activity where standards had yet to be fully articulated by lawmakers or regulators.
Key elements:
In 2000, the Wolfsberg Group published its Anti-money Laundering Principles for Private Banking (revised in 2002) and, in 2002, it released the Wolfsberg Anti-Money Laundering Principles for Correspondent Banking
In 2006, the Wolfsberg Group published the paper Guidance on a Risk Based Approach for Managing Money Laundering Risks to assist institutions in managing money laundering risks and to prevent the use of their institutions for criminal purposes
The paper also seeks to articulate relevant considerations which institutions may find useful in developing and implementing a reasonably designed risk based approach while dealing with clients
In 2007, the Wolfsberg Group issued its Statement against Corruption describing the role of the Wolfsberg Group and financial institutions more generally in support of international efforts to combat corruption
The Statement against Corruption identifies some of the measures financial institutions may consider in order to prevent corruption in their own operations and protect themselves against the misuse of their operations in relation to corruption
