Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism ("AML/CFT")

The Isle of Man Government and the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (“the Authority”) are committed to continually reviewing the Island's legislation and regulations against the recognised international standards. The Authority’s Strategic Approach to to countering financial crime can be viewed here.

For details of the Isle of Man Government’s commitment to combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation please see the following link.

In addition, the Isle of Man Government has published a national strategy in relation to its stance against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This document sets out priority goals actions identified following a review of existing defences. The document can be found here.

Customer Due Diligence

The Isle of Man has applied the "Know Your Customer" ("KYC") principle since 1985. KYC is a term used to describe the process of obtaining, retaining and using information about a customer to verify that they are who they say they are.

Increasingly, the term Customer Due Diligence “CDD” tends to be more commonly used. CDD encompasses KYC but it goes further than knowing who your customer is. It involves obtaining, documenting and using a broad range of information relating to a customer relationship or an occasional transaction.

 Areas to be considered include identity, address, source of funds (and source of wealth where applicable) and expected business or transactional activity. Certain elements of this information must also be verified. The term CDD also incorporates the ongoing monitoring of a business relationship, including reviewing the due diligence information initially obtained, to ensure it remains up to date and that the relationship is operating as expected for that customer. CDD is required for all new or continuing business relationships or occasional transactions. Further detail can be found in the AML/CFT Handbook.

AML/CFT Code

The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Code 2019 (“the Code”) sets out the preventative measures relevant businesses must have in place in order to forestall money laundering and financing of terrorism, which includes:

  • conducting CDD utilising a risk based approach (including conducting Enhanced Due Diligence “EDD” in high risk scenarios or wherever deemed relevant)
  • having a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (and a Deputy in some sectors)
  • maintaining appropriate procedures and controls to deal with Politically Exposed Persons
  • conducting ongoing monitoring of business relationships
  • keeping adequate records
  • ensuring effective staff training is in place

 

The definition of businesses caught by the Code (“Relevant Persons”) goes much wider than only financial services businesses, for example, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), Estate Agents, Bookmakers, Accountants and Lawyers (commonly referred to as designated businesses or DNFBPs).

For full details of which businesses are covered by the Code please see Schedule 4 to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2008.

 

1987 – 2014
  • The Island introduced its first anti-money laundering legislation in 1987, the Drug Trafficking Offences Act.
  • This was superseded by other legislation such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1990, the Criminal Justice Act 1990 and the Criminal Justice Act 1991.
  • The introduction of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering Offences) Act 1998 extended the definition of money laundering to cover all serious crimes, leading to its informal title of "the all crimes legislation".
  • This led to the creation of the Anti-Money Laundering Code 1998, which came into force on 1st December 1998.
  • The Anti Money Laundering Code 1998 was replaced by the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering) Code 2007 in September 2007.
  • Subsequently this was replaced by the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering) Code 2008, which came into effect on the 18 December 2008.
  • On 1 September 2010 this was superseded by the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Code 2010. This was supplemented by the Prevention of Terrorist Financing Code 2011, which came into effect on 1 September 2011.
  • On 1 May 2013 the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Code came into effect which broadly mirrored the requirements of the previous Codes but combined the AML and CFT provisions into one piece of legislation. This was amended by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Code 2013 on 1 July 2013.
2015 - 2018

On 1 April 2015 the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Code 2015 came into effect. This included changes to take into account the revised FATF recommendations adopted in 2012 and changes in relation to simplified CDD concessions. In 2015 Schedule 4 to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2008 was extended to include tax advisors, payroll service providers, controlled machines, specified non-profit organisations and virtual currency businesses.

On 25 April 2017 the Beneficial Ownership Act 2017 came into force. 

On 14 September 2018 the 2015 Code was amended by the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Code 2018. This amendment was to give effect to recommendations made by MONEYVAL concerning introduced business. 

 

2019

Following this, on 1 June 2019 the revised Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Code 2019 came into effect. This revision included:

  • changes made to address recommended actions from MONEYVAL’s 2016 evaluation of the Island;
  • the removal of provisions regarding gambling and specified non-profit organisations (which were moved into their own codes); and
  • general amendments to improve the layout, flow and language of the Code.

It should be noted there were some further amendments made to this legislation in November 2019 which addressed some typographical errors and made some updates to paragraph 37 concerning Branches, subsidiaries and agents.

Also following a public consultation in early 2019 the AML/CFT (Civil Penalty) Regulations were brought into force. This extends the range of sanctions in relation to contraventions of compliance with the AML/CFT Code 2019. Previously, the only option was for criminal sanctions to be imposed when contraventions of the AML/CFT Code were identified.

Guidance in relation to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Code 2019 and the Civil Penalty Regulations can be found here.