Customer Due Diligence for the Property Sector

03 December 2015 9135 Views

“Estate Agents have been highlighted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) as under reporting relative to their vulnerability to money laundering”

 

HM Treasury, ‘Implementing the third money laundering directive’

Under the Money Laundering Regulations of 2007, it is a mandatory requirement that certain industries including Estate Agents carry out KYC (Know Your Customer) Due Diligence prior to engaging in business with an individual or other business entity. This CDD (Customer Due Diligence) must also be repeated if the customers’ circumstances change or on certain trigger events i.e. they have sold one house and now want to sell a second.

It is also a mandatory requirement that you keep and can produce upon request, records of this CDD for a period of five years.

These regulations were brought into effect to prevent money laundering and to combat the financing of terrorist acts. The penalties for non-compliance are serious and it is the responsibility of the principal management team within the business to implement and manage the KYC measures.

For many organisations traditional identification procedures such as taking copies of original documents are no longer adequate, because:

• Paper identity documents can easily be forged

• This doesn’t meet the mandatory requirement to check clients against Sanction and Politically Exposed Persons lists

• You risk losing client’s important documents and not all clients are local.

• Storage of a manual paper trail is expensive

• The process is time consuming for you and your clients and there is a strong possibility that using such methods may not demonstrate due diligence.

 

HMRC – your supervisory body, National Association of Estate Agents and the Joint Money Laundering Steering group (JMLSG) all note that comprehensive electronic identity checks can provide the necessary verification levels to meet legal obligations.

Using an electronic Identity verification tool will demonstrate “best- practice”, help you to prevent fraud and protect vulnerable staff. It can also provide a unique differentiator to your clients above your competitors.

AMLchecker™ is the only product of its kind, where you can register and instantaneously verify your customers.

Comprising of a JMLSG compliant 2+2 electronic KYC verification for UK residents and a comprehensive screen against Sanctions & Politically Exposed Person data.

Our solutions will remotely confirm:

• The client is who they say they are

• The address is a real address, not made up

• That the individual is associated / lives at that address

• They are not on a sanctions list and whether they are a Politically Exposed Person

• They are over 18 years old

• Bankruptcy, CCJ & insolvency flag

• They are not impersonating a deceased person

 

Benefits of AMLchecker

• Pay-As-You-Go service – No contract – No Commitment

• Free sign up – no subscription charge

• No software to install

• Quick and easy Customer Due Diligence

• AMLchecker™ creates a simple Pass or Fail Result.

• Reduce the cost and effort of a manual process – mitigates risk of losing important documents – and reduces copying and postage costs.

• Full audit trail – it provides client reports

• No paper storage

• Can verify clients remotely – they don’t have to come to you

• Reputational Risk Reduction – protect against the risk of getting a bad reputation.

• Reduce the risk of being prosecuted

• Protect your clients –Who is really viewing their property?

• Protect employees – Who are they meeting at the property?

 

For further information: 

Email: enquiries@w2globaldata.com

Tel:  0330 088 9542

Web: W2GlobalData.com