Amendments to Measures and Procedures to Be Followed by the Argentine Superintendence of Insurance to Prevent Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism

The Resolution repeals Resolution No. 266/2009 of the Financial Information Unit (“FIU”) and establishes new guidelines regarding the measures and procedures that the Argentine Superintendence of Insurance (“ASI”) must follow to prevent, detect and report facts, acts, operations and omissions that may derive from money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Among other measures the Resolution obliges the ASI to establish the procedures to be followed by individuals and legal entities under Law No 20,091 (Insurance Companies Law) to apply know your client policies.

It also obliges the ASI to adopt a prevention and control policy against money laundering and financing of terrorism. This policy shall include, among others, the drafting of a manual, the appointment of a Compliance Officer and the implementation of a system of periodic audits.

The Resolution introduces a significant change as regards the information duties of the ASI to the UFI by establishing a monthly digital report.

Regarding the suspicious activities report by the ASI to the FIU, it establishes that from April 1, 2011 this will be delivered electronically. It also provides that the ASI has 30 days to report to the FIU suspicious activities connected to money laundering and 48 hours to report suspicious activities connected to the financing of terrorism.

The Resolution increases from 5 to 10 years the period for which the ASI shall keep documentation regarding the operations considered suspicious, in order to be used as evidence in any investigation of money laundering and financing terrorism.

The Resolution establishes the ASI’s obligation to cooperate in order to assess the compliance by the supervised entities with their duties to collect clients’ information. Violations by the supervised entities of their duty to collect clients’ information to prove the identity and determine a client’s economic and financial profile will result in that all transactions carried out by such client with the supervised entity shall be considered suspicious and the ASI shall report them as such to FIU.

Finally, the Resolution establishes the obligation of the ASI to prepare and audit an annual plan and send it to the FIU, and to quarterly report on i) supervised and audited entities; ii) results and conclusions regarding compliance by those entities with the regulations on money laundering and financing of terrorism.