The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) on October 10, 2023, issued a notification regarding the amendment of the Master Guidelines on Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) 2022.
The following has been stated: -
•After para 2.2, the following para shall be inserted, namely – “2.2A in case there is a variance in Client Due Diligence or AML/CFT standards specified by IRDAI and the standards specified by regulators of the host country, foreign branches/majority-owned subsidiaries of the regulated entities shall adopt the more stringent requirements of the two. If the host country does not permit the proper implementation of AML/CFT measures consistent with the home country requirements, financial groups shall apply appropriate additional measures to manage the Money Laundering /Terrorist Financing risks, and inform IRDAI.”
•The para 14.2 shall be substituted with the following para – “14.2 Insurers are directed to lay down appropriate on-going risk management procedures for identifying and applying enhanced due diligence measures on an on-going basis to PEPs and customers who are family members, close relatives/associates of PEPs. These measures are also to be applied to insurance contracts of which a PEP is the ultimate beneficial owner(s).”
•After para 14.3, the following para shall be inserted, namely - “14.4 Insurers shall take reasonable measures to establish the source of wealth and the source of funds of customers and beneficial owners identified as PEPs.”
•In para 15.1, after para 15.1.3, the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted “Insurers shall undertake ML/TF risk assessment prior to the launch or use of such products, practices and technologies and take appropriate measures to manage and mitigate the risks.
The detailed notification is given in the document attached below.
[Notification No. IRDAI/IID/CIR/MISC/177/10/2023]
