SBP amends guidelines on asset freeze, travel ban

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has amended the guidelines regarding asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, a circular said on Friday,

The central bank directed banks not to provide any banking services to proscribed entities and persons or their associated persons as required under anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations.  “In case of entity accounts, it should be ensured that their beneficial owners, directors, members, trustees and authorised signatories are not linked with any proscribed entities and persons, whether under the same name or with a different name, the SBP said.

“The association of individuals / entities with proscribed entities and persons may be determined on the basis of appropriate screening of sanctions lists / watch lists, publically known information or linkages on the basis of online NTN verification, government or regulatory sources, reliable media information, etc,” it added.

The SBP also said that while opening new accounts or extending services to customers, any similarity between the identifying information of the customer and that of proscribed entities and persons, including national identification number, address, etc, may be viewed with suspicion and properly investigated for necessary action as per the requirements.

The banks, development finance institutions and microfinance banks should monitor their relationships on a continuous basis and ensure that no such relationship exists.

If any such relationship is found, the same should be immediately reported to the financial monitoring unit and other actions should be taken as per the law.