This policy applies to all ConneXarCapital ltd officers, employees, appointed producers and products and services offered by ConneXarCapital ltd. All business units and locations within ConneXarCapital ltd will cooperate to create a cohesive effort in the fight against money laundering. Each business unit and location has implemented risk-based procedures reasonably expected to prevent, detect and cause the reporting of transactions. All efforts exerted will be documented and retained. The AML Compliance Committee is responsible for initiating Suspicious Activity Reports ("SARs") or other required reporting to the appropriate law enforcement or regulatory agencies. Any contacts by law enforcement or regulatory agencies related to the Policy shall be directed to the AML Compliance Committee.
It is the policy of ConneXarCapital ltd to actively pursue the prevention of money laundering and any activity that facilitates money laundering or the funding of terrorist or criminal activities. ConneXarCapital Ltd is committed to AML compliance in accordance with applicable law and requires its officers, employees and appointed producers to adhere to these standards in preventing the use of its products and services for money laundering purposes.
For the purposes of the Policy, money laundering is generally defined as engaging in acts designed to conceal or disguise the true origins of criminally derived proceeds so that the unlawful proceeds appear to have been derived from legitimate origins or constitute legitimate assets.
Money laundering is the process by which criminally obtained money or other assets (criminal
property) are exchanged for "clean" money or other assets with no obvious link to their criminal
origins.
Criminal property may take any form, including money or money's worth, securities, tangible
property and intangible property. It also covers money, however come by, which is used to fund
terrorism.
There is no single stage of money laundering; methods can range from the purchase and resale of luxury items such as a car or jewellery to passing money through a complex web of legitimate operations. Usually the starting point will be cash but it is important to appreciate that money laundering is defined in terms of criminal property. This can be property in any conceivable legal form, whether money, rights, real estate or any other benefit, if you know or suspect that it was obtained, either directly or indirectly, as a result of criminal activity and you do not speak up then you too are taking a part in the process.
No financial sector business is immune from the activities of criminals and Firms should consider the money laundering risks posed by the products and services they offer.
Terrorist financing is the process of legitimate businesses and individuals that may choose to
provide funding to resource terrorist activities or organisations for ideological, political or other
reasons. Firms must therefore ensure that: (i) customers are not terrorist organisations
themselves; and (ii) they are not providing the means through which terrorist organisations are
being funded.
Terrorist financing may not involve the proceeds of criminal conduct, but rather an attempt to
conceal the origin or intended use of the funds, which will later be used for criminal purposes.
The level of due diligence required when considering anti-money laundering procedures within
the firm, it should take a risk-based approach. This means the amount of resources spent in
conducting due diligence in any one relationship that is subject risk should be in proportion to
the magnitude of the risk that is posed by that relationship.
These can be broken down into the following areas:
Different customer profiles have different levels of risks attached to them. A basic Know your Customer (KYC) check can establish the risk posed by a customer. For example, near-retired individuals making small, regular contributions to a savings account in line with their financial details poses less of a risk than middle-aged individuals making ad-hoc payments of ever-changing sizes into a savings account that does not fit into the profile of the customers’ standing financial data. The intensity of the due diligence conducted on the latter would be higher than that carried out on the former as the potential threat of money laundering in the second case would be perceived as being greater. Corporate structures can be used as examples of customers that could carry a higher risk profile than the one just seen, as these can be used by criminals to introduce layers within transactions to hide the source of the funds, and like that, clients can be categorised into different risk bands.
This is the risk posed by the product or service itself. The product risk is driven by its
functionality as a money laundering tool.
The Joint Money Laundering Steering Group has categorised the products with which Firms
typically deal into three risk bands – reduced, intermediate and increased. Typically, pure
protection contracts are categorised as reduced risk and investments in unit trusts as increased
risk. Additionally, a factor that will contribute to the classification of the risk category is the sales
process associated with the product. If the transaction in the product takes place on an advisory
basis as a result of a KYC, this will carry less risk than an execution only transaction, whereby
you know significantly less about the customer.
The geographic location of the client or origin of the business activity has a risk associated with
it, this stems from the fact that countries around the globe have different levels of risk attached
to them.
A firm would determine the extent of their due diligence measure required initially and on an
ongoing basis using the above four risk areas.
ConneXarCapital ltd has adopted a Customer Identification Program (CIP). ConneXarCapital ltd will provide notice that they will seek identification information; collect certain minimum customer identification information from each customer, record such information and the verification methods and results.
ConneXarCapital ltd will provide notice to customers that it is requesting information from them to verify their identities, as required by applicable law.
When a business relationship is formed, in order to establish what might constitute normal
activity later in the relationship, it is necessary for the company to ascertain the nature of the
business a client expects to conduct.
Once an on-going business relationship has been established, any regular business undertaken
for that customer can be assessed against the expected pattern of activity of the customer. Any
unexplained activity can then be examined to determine whether there is a suspicion of money
laundering or terrorist financing.
Information regarding a client’s income, occupation, source of wealth, trading habits and the
economic purpose of any transaction is typically gathered as part of the provision of advice. At
the start of the relationship personal information is also obtained, such as, nationality, date of
birth, and residential address. These pieces of information should also be considered in respect
to the risk of financial crime (including AML and CTF). For high risk transactions, it might be
appropriate to seek verification of the information the client has provided.
When a transaction takes place, the source of funds, i.e. how the payment is to be made, from where and by who, must always be ascertained and recorded in the client file (this would usually be achieved through retaining a copy of the cheque or direct debit mandate).
The standard identification requirement for customers who are private individuals are generally governed by the circumstances relating to the customer and the product type that is being dealt in, i.e. the level of risk attributed to the product whether it is a reduced risk, intermediate risk or an increased risk product. Taking that into account for reduced risk and intermediate risk products the following pieces of information are required as a standard for identification purposes:
Verification of the information obtained must be based on reliable and independent sources –
which might either be documents produced by the customer, or electronically by the firm, or by a
combination of both. Where business is conducted face-to-face, firms should see originals of
any documents involved in the verification.
If documentary evidence of an individual’s identity is to provide a high level of confidence, it will
typically have been issued by a government department or agency, or by a court, because there
is a greater likelihood that the authorities will have checked the existence and characteristics of
the persons concerned. In cases where such documentary evidence of identity may not be
available to an individual, other evidence of identity may give the firm reasonable confidence in
the customer’s identity, although the firm should weigh these against the risks involved.
For increased risk level products, in addition to obtaining the standard information detailed above, the following know your customer information should be obtained and recorded:
Transaction based monitoring will occur within the appropriate business units of ConneXarCapital ltd. Monitoring of specific transactions will include but is not limited to transactions aggregating $5,000 or more and those with respect to which ConneXarCapital ltd has a reason to suspect suspicious activity. All reports will be documented.
There are signs of suspicious activity that suggest money laundering. These are
commonly referred to as "red flags." If a red flag is detected, additional due diligence will
be performed before proceeding with the transaction. If a reasonable explanation is not
determined, the suspicious activity shall be reported to the AML Compliance
Committee.
Know your customer – the basis for recognising suspicions
A suspicious transaction will often be one which is inconsistent with a customer's
known, legitimate business or personal activities or with the normal business for that
type of customer. Therefore, the first key to recognition is knowing enough about the customer's business to recognise that a transaction, or series of transactions, is
unusual.
Where, for whatever reason, we suspect that a client, or anybody for whom they are
acting, may be undertaking (or attempting to undertake) a transaction involving the
proceeds of any crime it must be reported as soon as practicably possible and in
writing.
Internal reports must be made regardless of whether any business was, or is intended
to be, actually written.
Upon notification to the AML Compliance Committee an investigation will be
commenced to determine if a report should be made to the appropriate law enforcement
or regulatory agencies. The investigation will include, but not necessarily be limited to,
review of all available information, such as payment history, birth dates, and address. If
the results of the investigation warrant, a recommendation will be made to the AML
Compliance Committee to file the SAR with the appropriate law enforcement or
regulatory agency. The AML Compliance Committee is responsible for any notice or
filing with law enforcement or regulatory agencies.
Investigation results will not be disclosed or discussed with anyone other than those
who have a legitimate need to know. Under no circumstances shall any officer,
employee or appointed agent disclose or discuss any AML concern, investigation,
notice or SAR filing with the person or persons subject of such, or any other person,
including members of the officer's, employee's or appointed agent's family.
Where we know that the funds in an account derive from criminal activity, or that they arise from fraudulent instructions, the account must be frozen. Where it is believed that the account holder may be involved in the fraudulent activity that is being reported, then the account may need to be frozen.