The National Assembly last evening passed an amendment to allow for an extension of the deadline for banks and other institutions to ensure they have the information on their customers as required under the law.
Yesterday was the deadline the institutions had been given after a three-month extension was granted on May 9, under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act. Banks had posted notices urging account holders to have their addresses verified in compliance with the law or have their accounts closed and hundreds flocked to the financial institutions yesterday looking to get their affairs in order.
Presenting the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill for its second reading yesterday, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh revealed that the institutions had made another application for the deadline to be extended. “During the latter half of last week we received in fact three separate letters that I have seen from large financial institutions operating in Guyana … explaining that notwithstanding the efforts made by the institutions … to ensure that they brought into compliance their entire existing databases of customers that they had thus far been unable to complete this exercise,” Dr. Singh said.
The minister said they were told that the institutions had a “significant part” of their customer information still to be verified in accordance with the law. However, he noted that the extension of the deadline had been done to the fullest extent permissible under the law and it was felt that the only option available was to amend the section dealing with the extension hence the amendment bill. “The bill seeks to grant or to establish a further period of 24 months. That is not necessarily to say that the deadline is being extended for 24 months, but the Attorney General now has the legal authority to grant … such further extensions not to exceed a maximum of 24 months.”
The minister said the administration is “anxious” to have the institutions in compliance with the Act in a timely manner and that he intended to suggest to them that they impose “particularly stringent requirements” on large account holders to have them comply as soon as possible.
He also called on the customers of the institutions to ensure that their information was verified stating that it was in their interest to do so. “This shouldn’t be viewed only as a bureaucratic requirement imposed by the law … it is in the interest of the customer to ensure that the bank or any institution with whom they are dealing that they have up to date identity and contact information from the standpoint of protecting their interest.”
The amendment was supported by the opposition with the PNCR-1G’s Winston Murray calling on the institutions to embark on an information campaign targeting their customers. “I’m not convinced that they have done enough to cause their customers to come in and provide the necessary information,” he said.
AFC MP Khemraj Ramjattan, in his contribution, added that his party also supported the amendment but pointed out that they were not consulted on it before as was done with the PNCR-1G.
The money laundering act was passed with the full support of the National Assembly on April 30 last year after spending almost two years in a Special Select Committee.
