The Bank of Israel is tightening its anti-money laundering regulations and procedures for identifying bank customers, as well as, for the first time, setting binding rules for financial activity with banks in the Palestinian Authority.
"Globes" has obtained a letter that Supervisor of Banks Rony Hizkiyahu sent to the banks' CEOs, in which he said, "There is a gap between international standards and Israel's current guidelines concerning the prevention of money laundering. Proper 'know your customer' policies and guidelines for regular monitoring of their activities are critical for the stability and credibility of the banking system."
Hizkiyahu stressed the need to strengthen the position of the person at the bank responsible for handling anti-money laundering issues, and ruled that this person will now be a member of management. Alternatively, this person could be a senior bank executive subject directly to a member of management who is not responsible for business activity.
The draft also states that every bank must establish special procedures for dealing with foreign residents who are public persons, such a minister, member of parliament, judge, or military officer. The decision to open a bank account for such a person will only be made by a senior executive, and the account will be classified as high risk.
As for banks in the Palestinian Authority, the Bank of Israel stipulates that an Israeli bank will not accept for deposit checks drawn on a Palestinian bank without the details of account holder printed on the checks in Latin characters. No third-party checks drawn on a Palestinian bank or third-party checks presented by a Palestinian bank will be accepted for deposit.
In addition, no transfer of money in excess of NIS 5,000 will be transferred from a Palestinian bank without obtaining the details of the account and identifying the other party in the transaction.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 10, 2009
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