The banking supervisor, SBS, published Resolution 2660/2015 on 18th May, approving the regulation for management of money-laundering risk and terrorism-funding risk. It applies to companies in the financial system and private pension-fund managers (hereinafter "the Companies").

The resolution is intended to establish anti Money Laundering and anti Financing of Terrorism (hereinafter "AML / AFT") criteria to boost the effectiveness and efficiency of the AML/AFT system, reflecting international standards, industry-wide best practices, as well as specific issues identified in the course of oversight.

In addition to establishing new regulatory requirements and clarifying responsibilities, the regulation also provides for an Adequacy Plan, which the Companies must prepare within ninety days from the date on which it comes into force. The Adequacy Plan must be approved at board-of-directors level, then submitted to the banking, insurance and private pension fund supervisor ("SBS"). At a minimum, it must contain a preliminary diagnosis, scheduled actions, the officials responsible for it and a timeline.

The resolution states that the Companies must implement an AML /A FT system with components including regulatory compliance and management of ML/FT risks.

The final goal of the supervisor is to develop a new regulatory AML /AFT framework. It has placed several new obligations on companies, the most important being: i) an AML / AFT rating to score customers; ii) the issuance of a report assessing the level of ML / FT risk exposure, prior to launching new products or services and before entering into new geographic areas; and iii) the issuance of a ML / FT Risk Assessment report every two years and a review of the associated methodology every four years.

It also regulates a number of obligations intended to strengthen due diligence policies regarding directors, managers and employees, who must also receive training in an AML / AFT programme approved by the Company board of directors.

This resolution came into force from 1st July 2015, repealing the regulations approved under SBS Resolution 838-2008.