The italian adoption of directive 2015/847 (focus on customer due diligence)

Directive 2015/847 has been adopted in Italy with D.Lgs 90/17and it states that operators have to use customer due diligence for casual operations too. According to the Directive 2015/847 (art. 17.1, let. (b)), due diligence involves the transferring of funds up or higher than € 1.000.

Customer due diligence is mandatory for intermediaries in case of emission, assignment of electronic legal tender and payment devices (art. 17,co. 6); the due diligence is not demanded in case of drafting or transmission of documents regarding fiscal aspects (art. Art. 17, co. 8).

The new regulation leaves to Banca d’Italia the competence of choosing sanctions in case of violation of the Directive 2015/847: «Fermo quanto previsto dal comma 9, all’irrogazione delle sanzioni comminate dal presente articolo, nei confronti degli intermediari bancari e finanziari provvedono la Banca d’Italia e l’IVASS, in ragione delle rispettive attribuzioni. La Banca d’Italia provvede, altresi’, all’irrogazione delle sanzioni di cui al presente articolo in caso di inosservanza del regolamento (UE) n. 2015/847 e delle norme tecniche di regolamentazione emanate dalla Commissione europea ai sensi dell’articolo 10 dei regolamenti (CE) n. 1093/2010, n. 1094/2010 e n. 1095/2010, nell’esercizio dei poteri di cui all’articolo 45, paragrafi 7 e 11, della direttiva».

The new italian AML regulation states itself disapplication for internal transferring of funds (art.70) when: a) The amount of the transaction is lower than € 1.000 (otherwise there would be a contradiction with the rule fixed by art. 17, co. 2 about customer due diligence); b) The internal transaction is due to the payment of items or devices; c) The payee’s intermediaries would be able to discover operation source through the identifier’s operation code.

Ordinary due diligence (article 17) should be used when there is a suspicion of money laundering or terrorism financing. This due diligence can be used in case of occasional (or fractionated) transactions higher than Euro 15,000.00 or when there are doubts on the declaration of the customers.

Such activities identify the client and the beneficial owner, through the acquisition of valid identity documents required by the law, or even by information received from other jurisdictions.

Art. 23 involves simplified due diligence: less strict control measures on certain cases, depending on the nature of the clients (for example public administration), the geographical indicator (credit or financial institution placed in EU Countries or even in a non-EU institution, where therefore application of anti money laundering regulation is strictly adopted) or the products (certain kind of insurance contracts etc.).

According to article 24, enhanced due diligence is a stronger control measure used in case of higher risk of money laundering or terrorism financing. It follows three indicators: Customer (for example in case of a PEP), Geographical ( for example Countries involved in higher risk of money laundering or financial terrorism) and Products (payment devices which grant anonymity).

Art. 70.2 claims that, in case of internal transactions lower than € 1.000, operators subjected to Directive 2015/847, don’t have to apply the art. 8’s measures to intermediaries in countries that have adopted an exemption on the sending duty informations.

Finally art. 70.3 demands to Banca d’Italia the faculty of issuing «istruzioni per l’applicazione del regolamento (UE) n. 2015/847 del Parlamento europeo e del Consiglio del 20 maggio 2015 nei confronti dei prestatori di servizi di pagamento; mediante tali istruzioni possono essere indicate fattispecie di trasferimento di fondi rientranti nella deroga di cui al comma 1».