3.3.5 Agent Due Diligence

يسري تنفيذه من تاريخ 15/8/2021

RHP may use agents in a foreign country to carry out activity on their behalf in that foreign country. This generally entails the corresponding agent in the foreign country executing payments on instructions from the RHP, or the agent sending instructions to the RHP to execute payments domestically. It should be noted that RHP are not permitted to use agents to carry out activity on their behalf in the UAE (as they are required by Circular No. 24/2019 to manage their business personally and never assign such task to another person, also known as ''nesting''.)

RHP are exposed to risks when their agents engage in transactions that create risks for ML or TF. RHP must identify and assess the ML/TF risks they may be exposed to from the use of agents to provide activity on their behalf in a foreign country. RHP should ensure that they understand who their agents are, and that they are not breaching any applicable AML/CFT laws and regulations. In order to reduce their exposure to ML/TF risks, RHP are required to perform appropriate due diligence on their agents, to ensure they thoroughly know their agents and monitor their transactions to ensure that they are legitimate. The required elements of due diligence on agents are as follows:

	•	When entering into a business relationship with an agent, as a first step, the RHP should identify and verify the identity of the agent, using reliable, independent source documents, data or information.
	•	RHP should also identify and take reasonable measures to verify the identity of the beneficial owner(s) and understand the ownership and control structure of the agent, such that the RHP is satisfied that it knows the beneficial owner(s) and that the agent is not a shell bank.
	•	RHP should gather sufficient information to understand the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship, which includes understanding what types of customers the agent intends to service through the business relationship, how it will offer services, the transaction volume and value, and the extent to which any of these are assessed as high risk.
	•	RHP should also gather sufficient information and determine from publicly available information the reputation of the agent, including whether it has been subject to a ML/TF investigation or regulatory action. In addition, RHP should ensure that the agent has proper AML/CFT controls.
	•	RHP should conduct ongoing due diligence of the business relationship, including periodical reviews of the CDD information on the agent, and ongoing monitoring to detect any changes in the agents' activity pattern that may indicate unusual activity.

RHP should keep up-to-date agent lists and retain them for a period of five years. RHP must provide the CBUAE current lists of their agents and the countries in which they operate. In addition, RHP should make current lists of their agents available to the relevant authorities within the country in which they operate. RHP should ensure that their agents fully adhere to the procedures of record keeping as described in this Guidance and that they make those records available to the RHP immediately upon request.