Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/KYC Policy Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name of Grow Fortuna )
1) Introduction
2) Scope
3) Objective
4) What is Money Laundering
5) KYC / AML philosophy
6) Know your customer
7) Client Identification Procedure
8) Customer Acceptance policy
9) Client Due Diligence
10) Monitoring of transactions
11) Combating financing of terrorism
12) Maintenance of records of transactions
13) Customer Identification Procedure
14) Reporting to Financial Intelligence Unit-India
15) Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR)
16) Principal Officer
1) Introduction
This Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Policy (the Policy) has been prepared in accordance Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA Act). This Policy also takes into account the provisions of the PMLA Act and other Rules laid down by SEBI, FMC and FIU.
As per PMLA, every banking company, financial institution (which includes chit fund company, a co-operative bank, a housing finance institution and a non-banking financial company) and intermediary (which includes a stock-broker, sub-broker, share transfer agent, banker to an issue, trustee to a trust deed, registrar to an issue, merchant banker, underwriter, portfolio manager, investment adviser and any other intermediary associated with securities market and registered under section 12 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992) shall have to maintain a record of all the transactions; the nature and value of which has been prescribed in the Rules notified under the PMLA. For the purpose of PMLA, transactions include:
This Policy only supplements the existing SEBI / FIU guidelines relating to KYC/AML and any subsequent guidelines from the date of the Policy on KYC/AML will be implemented immediately, with subsequent ratification by the Board. Extant regulations will at any point in time override this Policy.
Scope
The Policy covers the existing clients of Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name Grow Fortuna ) including the proposed clients and their transactions or proposed transactions carried out through Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name Grow Fortuna ).
Objectives
The objective of this policy is broadly to:
What is Money Laundering
Money laundering is the criminal practice of putting ill-gotten gains or dirty money through a series of transactions, so that the funds are cleaned to look like proceeds from legal activities. It is driven by criminal activities and conceals the true source, ownership, or use of funds.
In simple terms money laundering is most often described as the “turning of dirty or black money into clean or white money”. If undertaken successfully, money laundering allows criminals to legitimize "dirty" money by mingling it with “clean” money, ultimately providing a legitimate cover for the source of their income.
Section 3 of the PMLA Act defines money laundering in following words: :
The AML philosophy of the Company is to prevent Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name Absolute Finserve) from being used, intentionally or unintentionally, by criminal elements for money laundering or terrorist financing activities. The objective of this policy is also to enable Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name Grow Fortuna )” to know / understand its customers and their financial dealings better which in turn will help the company to manage its risks prudently.
6)“Know Your Customer”One of the best methods of preventing and deterring money laundering is a sound knowledge of a customer’s business and pattern of financial transactions. The adoption of procedures by which financial institutions “know their customer” is not only a principle of good business but is also an essential tool to avoid involvement in money laundering. “Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name Grow Fortuna )” shall adopt appropriate KYC procedures and internal controls measures to:
1) Assess the money laundering risk posed by customers’ expected use of Company’s products and services; 2)Protect the Company from the risks of doing business with any individual or entity whose identity cannot be determined or who refuses to provide information, or who have provided information that contains significant inconsistencies which cannot be resolved after due investigation. 3) Determine and document the true identity of the customers who establish relationships, open accounts or conduct significant business transactions and obtain basic background information on customers. Client Identification Procedure - Client identification procedure means verifying the identity of the customer by using reliable, independent source documents, data or information. Company needs to obtain sufficient information necessary to establish, to its satisfaction, the identity of each new customer, whether regular or occasional, and the purpose of the intended nature of relationship. The Company must also be able to satisfy the regulators that due diligence was observed based on the risk profile of the customer in compliance with the extant guidelines in place. - The Company shall have in place a comprehensive Customer Identification Procedure which details the various documents that the Company can take as Identity, Address proof for various types of customers. This Customer Identification Proceduredocument shall be updated with approvals from Compliance, and Business groups, with subsequent ratification by the Board of Directors. Customer Acceptance Policy - No account shall be opened in anonymous or fictitious / benami name(s). PAN shall be mandatory for each account. Each client shall have one account only. - The parameters of risk perception in terms of the nature of business activity, location of customer and his clients, mode of payments, volume of turnover, social and financial status etc. shall be captured at the account opening stage to enable categorization of customers into low, medium high and very high risk. The Company has indicative categories of customers which would fall into low, medium, high and Very high risk categories. The client / customer due diligence (CDD) measures comprise thefollowing: Client Information & Identity: Before registering a client, obtain antecedent information. Verify independently information submitted by client but not limited to his identity, registered office address, correspondence address, contact details, occupation, Promoters /Directors, source of income, experience in securities market, PAN no. SEBI Registration No. etc. Obtain as many as information. Generally Institutional clients are recognized at global level. We need to verify clients identity and origin using services of NDML, CKYC registry, internet services or any other reliable, independent source documents, data or information. After verifying information, registration form along with other supporting documents should be approved by the Compliance offi cer designated for verification. Beneficial Ownership and control: After completing the registration process, the client account should be verified by an independent employee to check the actual beneficial ownership and control of the particular account. We need to obtain the details with respect to Shareholders, Promoters from the client and it has to be verified independently. In this process we should found out who is authorized to operatethe client's account and who is ultimately controlling the account. Also verify the sources of funds for funding the transaction. We also have to take care at the time of settlement regarding the nature of transaction, movement / source of transaction, etc.Periodically ask for client's financial details to determine the genuineness of transaction
The “Beneficial Owner” is the natural person or persons who ultimately own, control or influence a client and / or persons on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. It also incorporates those persons who exercise ultimate effective control over alegal person or arrangement.
Beneficial Ownership and control: Periodically we need to conduct due diligence and scrutiny of client's transactions and accounts to ensurethat transactions are being conducted in knowledge, to and out the risk profile, source of funds, etc. At regular interval, ongoing due diligence and scrutiny need to be conduct i.e. perform ongoing scrutiny of the transactions and account throughout the course of the business relationship to ensure that the transactions being conducted are consistent with the Organization’s knowledge of the client, its business and risk pro le, taking into account, where necessary, the customer's source of funds.
Monitoring of Transactions
Ongoing monitoring is an essential element of effective KYC procedures. The Company can effectively control and reduce their risk only if they have an understanding of the normal and reasonable activity of the customer so that they have the means of identifying transactions that fall outside the regular pattern of activity.
The Company shall have in place a comprehensive transaction monitoring process from a KYC/AML perspective. The Company shall put in place strong transaction alerts which will provide proactive signals on suspicioustransactions and possible money laundering. An indicative list of such alerts is provided with this policy. Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name of Absolute Finserve), AML monitoring team shall endeavor to update the list based on current understanding of the market scenario and trading patterns followed by clients. In addition to the alerts from internal sources, the AML monitoring team shall also monitor the alerts provided by the exchanges as per their circular NSE/INVG/22908 dated March 7, 2013.
An indicative list of suspicious activities
-Clients whose identity verification seems difficult or clients appears not to cooperate;
-Asset management services for clients where the source of the funds is not clear or not in keeping with clients apparent standing /business activity;
-Clients in high-risk jurisdictions or clients introduced by banks or affiliates or other clients based in high risk jurisdictions;
-Substantial increases in business volume without apparent cause;
-Unusually large cash deposits made by an individual or business;
-Clients transferring large sums of money to or from overseas locations with instructions for payment in cash;
-Transfer of investment proceeds to apparently unrelated third parties;
-Off market transactions in the DP account of the clients;
-Unusual transactions by “High risk status” and businesses undertaken by shell corporations offshore banks /financial services, businesses reported to be in the nature of export-import of small items. It would be ensured that record of transaction is preserved and maintained in terms of section 12 of the PMLA 2002 and / or rules made thereunder and that transaction of suspicious nature or any other transaction notified under section 12 of the act is reported to the appropriate law authority. Further the accounts or financial assets shall be frozen for any particular client in case so required by any regulatory authority upon receiving a notice for the same.
Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT)
The Company shall have a heightened awareness in the system to check for transactions which give rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that these may involve financing of the activities relating to terrorism.
Maintenance of records of transactions / Information to be preserved / Maintenance and preservation of records / Cash and Suspicious transactions reporting to Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND)
Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, vide its notification dated July 1, 2005 in the Gazette of India, has notified the Rules under the PMLA Act . In terms of the Rules, the provisions of PMLA Act, 2002 came into effect from July 1, 2005. Section 12 of the PMLA, 2002 casts certain obligations on financial institutions in regard to preservation and reporting of customer account information.
Maintenance of records of transactions
The Company shall have a system of maintaining proper record of all transactions including records of all transactions prescribed under Rule 3 of the Rules, as mentioned below:
Information to be preserved
The Company shall maintain the following information in respect of transactions referred to in Rule 3 of the Rules including all necessary information specified by the regulator to permit reconstruction of individual transactions in respect of transactions referred to in Rule 3 of the Rules:
Maintenance and Preservation of records
The Company shall maintain the records of all transactions including the records containing information in respect of transactions referred to in Rule 3 above. The Company shall take appropriate steps to evolve a system for proper maintenance and preservation of account information in a manner that allows data to be retrieved easily and quickly whenever required or when requested by the competent authorities. Further, The Company shall maintain for such number of years as would be required under the PMLA 2002 and rules made there under from the date of transaction between The Company and the client, all necessary records of transactions, both domestic or international, which will permit reconstruction of individual transactions (including the amounts and types of currency involved if any) so as to provide, if necessary, evidence for prosecution of persons involved in criminal activity.
Record generation, maintenance and retention – For the purpose of the record keeping provision, we should ensure compliance with the record keeping requirements contained in the SEBI Act, 1992, Rules and Regulations made there-under, PML Act, 2002 as well as other relevant legislation, Rules, Regulations, Exchange Bye-laws and Circulars. Records to be maintained as are sufficient to permit reconstruction of individual transactions (including the amounts and types of currencies involved, if any) so as to provide, if necessary, evidence for prosecution of criminal behavior. Should there be any suspected drug related or other laundered money or terrorist property, the competent investigating authorities would need to trace through the audit trail for reconstructing a financial profile of the suspect account. To enable this reconstruction, organisation should retain the following information for the accounts of their customers in order to maintain a satisfactory audit trail:
Instructions/Check List For Filling KYC Form
Proof of Identity (POI): - List of documents admissible as Proof of Identity: Unique Identification Number (UID) (Aadhaar)/ Passport/ Voter ID card/ Driving license. PAN card with photograph. Identity card/ document with applicant’s Photo, issued by any of the following: Central/State Government and its Departments, Statutory/Regulatory Authorities, Public Sector Undertakings, Scheduled Commercial Banks, Public Financial Institutions, Colleges affiliated to Universities, Professional Bodies such as ICAI, ICWAI, ICSI, Bar Council etc., to their Members; and Credit cards/Debit cards issued by Banks.
Proof of Address (POA): - List of documents admissible as Proof of Address: (*Documents having an expiry date should be valid on the date of submission.) Passport/ Voters Identity Card/ Ration Card/ Registered Lease or Sale Agreement of Residence/ Driving License/ Flat Maintenance bill/ Insurance Copy. Utility bills like Telephone Bill (only land line), Electricity bill or Gas bill - Not more than 3 months old. Bank Account Statement/Passbook -- Not more than 3 months old. Self-declaration by High Court and Supreme Court judges, giving the new address in respect of their own accounts. Proof of address issued by any of the following: Bank Managers of Scheduled Commercial Banks/Scheduled Co-Operative Bank/Multinational Foreign Banks/Gazetted Officer/Notary public/Elected representatives to the Legislative Assembly/Parliament/Documents issued by any Govt. or Statutory Authority. Identity card/document with address, issued by any of the following: Central/State Government and its Departments, Statutory/Regulatory Authorities, Public Sector Undertakings, Scheduled Commercial Banks, Public Financial Institutions, Colleges affiliated to Universities and Professional Bodies such as ICAI, ICWAI, ICSI, Bar Council etc., to their Members. For FII/sub account, Power of Attorney given by FII/sub-account to the Custodians (which are duly notarized and/or apostiled or consularised) that gives the registered address should be taken. The proof of address in the name of the spouse may be accepted. Exemptions/clarifications to PAN In case of transactions undertaken on behalf of Central Government and/or State Government and by officials appointed by Courts e.g. Official liquidator, Court receiver etc. Investors residing in the state of Sikkim. UN entities/multilateral agencies exempt from paying taxes/filing tax returns in India. In case of institutional clients, namely, FIIs, MFs, VCFs, FVCIs, Scheduled Commercial Banks, Multilateral and Bilateral Development Financial Institutions, State Industrial Development Corporations, Insurance Companies registered with IRDA and Public Financial Institution as defined under section 4A of the Companies Act, 1956, Custodians shall verify the PAN card details with the original PAN card and provide duly certified copies of such verified PAN details to the intermediary. List of people authorized to attest the documents: Notary Public, Gazetted Officer, Manager of a Scheduled Commercial/ Co-operative Bank or Multinational Foreign Banks (Name, Designation & Seal should be affixed on the copy). In case of NRIs, authorized officials of overseas branches of Scheduled Commercial Banks registered in India, Notary Public, Court Magistrate, Judge, Indian Embassy /Consulate General in the country where the client resides are permitted to attest the documents In case of Non-Individuals, additional documents to be obtained from non-individuals, over & above the POI & POA, as mentioned below:
Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) The Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) shall be furnished within 7 days of arriving at a conclusion that any transaction, whether cash or non-cash, or a series of transactions integrally connected are of suspicious nature The Principal Officer shall record his reasons for treating any transaction or a series of transactions as suspicious. It shall be ensured that there is no undue delay in arriving at such a conclusion once a suspicious transaction report is received from a branch or any other office. Such report shall be made available to the competent authorities on request. While determining suspicious transactions, The Company shall be guided by definition of suspicious transaction contained in the Rules as amended from time to time. An indicative list of suspicious activities contained is provided along with this policy. While ensuring that there is no tipping off to the customer at any level, The Company may put restrictions on operations in the accounts where an STR has been made.
Principal Officer While determining Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name Grow Fortuna ) has Designated Mr. Dhruvin J Bhanushali, as the Principal Officer for due compliance of anti-money laundering policies. He will be responsible for implementation of internal controls & procedures for identifying and reporting any suspicious transaction or activity to the FIU_IND. Designated Director The Principal Officer shall be appointed as the designated director of Dhruvin J Bhanushali (under the brand name Grow Fortuna ) and details thereof be intimated to FIU consequent . Dhruvin J Bhanushali (SEBI RIA No. – INA0000190172)