Compliance with FATF conditions: Real estate agents to share credentials of buyers, sellers with FBR

ISLAMABAD: In an important development with regard to compliance with the FATF conditions, real estate agents and builders will be required to check credentials of proposed buyers and sellers of properties before brokering a deal in a bid to prevent proscribed terrorists from making property deals.

In order to fulfill the conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in line with the UN Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373, a list of 4,500 proscribed terrorists list has been shared with Pakistani authorities. Sources confirmed that the FBR and real estate agents had held deliberations at the FBR’s headquarters on August 17, 2021 under supervision of high-ups of the National Coordination Committee (NCO). During the discussion, it transpired that the real estate agents will share information of sellers and purchasers of properties – a move towards compliance with the FATF.

In this regard, the FBR has developed an App, having names of around 4,500 proscribed terrorists, and the real estate agents will be bound to ensure a checklist with the help of this App. In case, the name and CNIC numbers of prospective buyers matches with any of the terrorists, Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) will be generated. Besides, the real estate agents will maintain records of both sellers and purchasers. The FBR has clearly defined the reporting requirements and functions of the developers or builders registered as Designated Non-Financial Business and Professions (DNFBPs).

The FBR portal will upload the specified requirements for developers and builders registered as the DNFBPs. Each developer and builder will have to search the prospective buyer or seller’s name in the list provided by the United Nations that contains the names of 4,500 proscribed persons. If the name of the buyer/sellers is not in the list, there will be no issue for carrying out transactions. However, if any of the names appear in the list, the developer and builder will have to immediately generate STRs for alerting the concerned officials.

Moreover, the proposed buyer and seller will also submit a form about the actual beneficial owner of the property. If a third party is purchasing property on behalf of someone else, the actual beneficial owner must be declared through a form. In this way, the actual beneficial owner will be traced through a money trail.