The FMA is one of three supervisors for AML/CFT in New Zealand, alongside the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Department of Internal Affairs. The FMA supervises approximately 800 reporting entities.
The report covers the period from 1st July 2016 to 30 June 2018. During this period, the FMA issued 18 formal warnings, including one public warning.
The report highlights a number of issues that should be addressed by boards and management:
AML/CFT programmes that have not been reviewed or updated to align with the current businesses’ current practices
AML/CFT risk assessments that are not updated when changes in risks occur
customer due diligence including enhanced and ongoing account monitoring remains problematic for reporting entities. An increasing number of entities are using electronic identify verification, but the FMA noted a number of deficiencies with their AML/CFT programmes in this regard.
Details of the FMA’s future monitoring focus are also set out. They include:
an increased focus on reviewing independent audit reports
more in-depth reviews of customer onboarding and account monitoring processes
when undertaking operational reviews, the FMA will focus more on front-line staff who perform tasks such as customer onboarding, to assess their understanding of the obligations.
The FMA identified 89 issues requiring remedial action in the period to end of June 2017. This rose to 175 issues for the same period in 2018.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now