Notice of Examination on Suspicious Activity Reporting Obligations for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions and Virtual Asset Service Providers

JFSC will be conducting themed examinations for the Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) sectors between June and October 2023, as part of their 2023 thematic examinations programme. This is to assess compliance with the obligations for reporting ML/TF/PF as set out in Article 21 of the Money Laundering (Jersey) Order (MLO), Sections 8.3.1 and 8.3.2 of the AML/CFT/CPF Handbook, and the completeness of systems and controls demonstrated by DNFBPs and VASPs relevant to their reporting obligations.

JFSC will send out the Information Requests in advance to those businesses which have been selected for the examinations. Should your business be selected for inclusion in a thematic examination, they will contact you to provide further details about the examination process. Once the examinations are complete, they will publish industry feedback papers on our website summarising the anonymised results of the thematic examinations as well as identifying areas of good practice observed or where development is required.

Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), along with the other financial institutions, are at the forefront of prevention and detection of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF). The identification and reporting of suspicious activity relating to ML/TF/PF is essential and forms a vital part of an effective AML/CFT/CPF regulatory framework. Indeed, the Jersey Financial Intelligence Unit (JFIU) acknowledge the importance of Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) in the fight against financial crime (nationally and globally) and state: “The information contained in SARs is vitally important as it allows the Jersey FIU to better understand suspected criminal activity, ML/TF typologies, emerging threats, risks, and trends.”
 
Article 21 of the MLO requires that a relevant person must establish and maintain reporting procedures which:

1. Communicate to employees the identity of the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) to whom an internal SAR is to be made.
2. Provide for that report to be considered by the MLRO in the light of all other relevant information for the purpose of determining whether or not the information or other matter contained in the report gives rise to knowledge, suspicion or reasonable grounds for knowledge or suspicion that another person is engaged in ML/TF/PF.
3. Allow the MLRO to have access to all other information which may be of assistance in considering the report.
4. Provide for the information or other matter contained in an internal SAR to be disclosed as soon as is practicable by the MLRO to a designated police officer or designated customs officer using the approved form, where the MLRO knows, suspects or has reasonable grounds to know or suspect that another person is engaged in ML/TF/PF.
5. Provide for additional information relating to a report to be given by the MLRO to a designated police officer or designated customs officer.

Sections 8.3.1 and 8.3.2 of the AML/CFT/CPF Handbook provide further Code of Practice requirements relating to internal and external SAR reporting.
 
The Thematic Examinations will be led by the new DNFBP/NPO/VASP Team