The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India on 20th June 2022, has extended the deadline till 30th June 2022, for comments and suggestions on draft guidelines issued on new processes to be followed by insurers for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) processes.
The guidelines would be applicable for all class of Life, General or Health Insurance business carried out by the ‘Insurers’ except Re-insurance business carried out by the ‘Indian Insurance company’ or ‘foreign company’ in India.
As per the Draft guidelines, 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 (Politically Exposed Persons) and customers who are close relatives of PEPs. These measures are also to be applied to insurance contracts of which a PEP is the ultimate beneficial owner.
Further, the insurers should not enter into a contract with a customer whose identity matches with any person in the UN sanction list or with banned entities and those reported to have links with terrorists or terrorist organizations.
Insurers shall maintain an updated list of designated individuals/entities in electronic form and run a check on the given parameters on a regular basis to verify whether designated individuals/entities are holding any insurance policies with the insurers.
