Financial Intelligence Unit Amends Regulations Applicable to Certified Accountants

On March 18, 2023, the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) issued Resolution 42/2024, amending the regulatory framework regarding the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism (ML/TF) applicable Certified Accountants whose activities are regulated by the Professional Council of Economic Sciences, to manage and mitigate ML/TF risks in accordance with the Financial Action Task Force’s international standards, guides, and guidelines.

Certified Accountants carrying out the following specific activities (Specific Activities) will be considered reporting entities (SO):

• Purchasing and/or selling real estate, when the amount involved exceeds 700 minimum wages (SMVM).
• Administrating goods or assets when the amount involved exceeds 150 SMVM.
• Administrating bank, savings, and/or securities accounts when the amount involved exceeds 50 SMVM.
• Organizing contributions to create, operate, or manage legal entities or other legal structures.
• Creating, operating, or managing legal entities or other legal structures and the purchase and sale of legal businesses and/or shares of legal entities or other legal structures.
• Preparing audit reports of financial statements when these services are provided to other regulated entities and/or other entities with an income equal to or greater than 4000 SMVM.

The main changes include:

1. Preparing a Risk Self-Assessment Technical Report (Technical Report) including, at least, the following risk factors: client, offered services, distribution channels and geographic locations, information provided by the UIF or other authorities about ML/TF risks, and all situations that may affect the ML/TF risk. The Technical Report must be self-sufficient. It must be updated every two years and filed before the UIF before April 30.
2. Carrying out an independent external review in accordance with the UIF Resolution in force on the matter (currently Resolution UIF 67/2017).
3. Using red flags alert signals to determine whether a Suspicious Transaction Report should be filed, for example, when the amount, type, nature, and frequency of the Specific Activities clients carry out are inconsistent with the clients' backgrounds and economic activity, or when the Specific Activities go beyond the clients’ usual practices in their magnitude, regularity, or periodicity, among others.
4. Submitting an Annual Systematic Report including general information (name, address, and activity), types and quantity of Specific Activities carried out, among others.
5. Submitting an Annual Report of Audited Entities including information regarding the result of their financial year.
6. Segmenting clients according to the risk assigned to each one and establishing different due diligences accordingly.
7. Carrying out ongoing due diligence on regular clients and updating their identification files according to the risk level assigned to them. Here, regular customers are defined as those for whom is carried out more than one Specified Activity within one year.
8. Detailing the information that, as a minimum, the Register of Unusual Operations and the Suspicious Transaction Reports must include.

Finally, the Resolution incorporates an automatic updating mechanism, which uses the SMVM as a reference parameter.

The Resolution is in force as from March 18, 2024. That day, Resolution UIF 65/2011 was repealed. However, certain obligations will be required:

1. The first Risk Self-Assessment Technical Report and the assessment method used must be submitted by April 30, 2026.
2. The first independent external auditor's report must be submitted by August 31, 2026.
3. The first Monthly Systematic Report must be submitted between February 1 and 15, 2025.
4. The first Annual Systematic Report must be submitted between January 2 and March 15, 2025.