The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) has proceeded to the amendment of its Directive on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing after completion of the consultation process with credit institutions in operation in Cyprus.

Please note that the CBC has enhanced the KYC procedure and requirements for commercial banks and intermediaries. Furthermore, it has proceeded to strengthening the requirements regarding the business relationship with third parties that undertake the KYC and due diligence procedures for the banks’ customers and on which the banks depend for the correctness of the provided information.

For instance, the amended directive provides for:

• Enhanced requirements regulating the relationship with third parties and the supervision of the said relationship by the competent Compliance officer, who is expected to keep detailed records and a scorecard for documentation and assessment purposes.
• The suspension of the bank account transactions, if the verification is not carried out within a three-month period.
• Stricter KYC obligations if the transactions on a client account exceed 100.000 EUR annually or if the client presents additional characteristics which could qualify him/her as a high risk client.

In the announcement it is stated that “the current amendment is part of the continuous effort to further strengthen the regulatory framework with the aim of zero tolerance for deficiencies or weaknesses that might lead to money laundering and terrorist financing.”

For advice on bank account opening in Cyprus, you can get in touch with our corporate consultants.