On November 23, 2016, the Basel Committee launched a consultation on proposed revisions to the correspondent banking and account opening annexes of its Committee Guidelines on sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism. The Guidelines describe how banks should include money laundering and financing of terrorism risks within their overall risk management. The Basel Committee is seeking to confirm regulatory expectations on the assessment of money laundering and financing of terrorism risks in correspondent banking and its proposals follow the publication by the Financial Action Task Force of its Guidance on correspondent banking on October 21, 2016. The proposed revisions to the Guidelines develop the application of the risk-based approach for correspondent banking relationships, including recognizing that not all correspondent banking relationships carry the same level of risk. The proposed revisions also clarify expectations regarding the quality of payment messages and the conditions for using "know your customer" (KYC) services. Responses to the consultation are requested by February 22, 2017.
The consultation paper is available at: http://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d389.pdf ; the Guidelines on Sound Management of Risks Related to Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism is available at: http://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d353.pdf ; and the FATF's Guidance is available at: http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/Guidance-Correspondent-Banking-Services.pdf.
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