The NBB would hereby like to inform you that the AML/CFT site has been updated to reiterate and clarify the NBB’s expectations in respect of:

• the verifications, notifications and documentation by financial institutions upon appointing the senior officer responsible for AML/CFTP and the AMLCO, as well as the NBB’s expectations regarding the AMLCO’s language skills and the measures expected of financial institutions in the event of a vacancy (see the page “Governance”)
   
• the approach in contacts with customers vis-à-vis whom an atypical transaction is detected, such that scrupulous compliance is at all times ensured with the prohibition set out in Article 55 of the Law of 18 September 2017 on disclosing that an ML/FT analysis is being conducted or is likely to be conducted (see the page “Prohibition of disclosure”)
   
• the obligation to screen counterparties to domestic transactions for the purposes of applying binding provisions on financial embargoes, as well as the NBB’s taking into consideration of a financial institution’s participation in the Domestic Sanction Screening System set up by financial institutions, and the NBB’s approach in the event of failure to screen domestic transactions (see the page “Financial embargoes and assets freezing”)
   
• the submission of responses to the periodic questionnaire (Circular NBB_2024_05) and the deadline for submitting the copy of the AMLCO’s annual activity report, coinciding in 2024 with that of the periodic questionnaire, i.e., 15 July 2024 (see the page “Reporting by financial institutions”.

For more information, please visit the AML/CFT site, where you can find an overview of the changes made to the successive versions of the site. The purpose of the AML/CFT site is to bring together all legal and regulatory texts on this subject and complement them with comments and recommendations by the NBB in this area.