Amendment to KYC: Measures while dealing with the Wire Transfer

Pursuant to a recent amendment to KYC Master Direction, RBI on Thursday (May 4) advised Regulated Entities (RE) like banks and financial institutions to undertake certain measures while dealing with the Wire Transfer in terms of said amendment.

Information requirements for cross-border, as well as domestic wire transfers in terms of the latest guidelines, are as under.

Cross-border wire transfers:

All cross-border wire transfers shall be accompanied by accurate, complete, and meaningful originator and beneficiary information mentioned below.

• Name of the originator;
• The originator account number where such an account is used to process the transaction;

• The originator’s address, national identity number, customer identification number, date and place of birth;

•  Name of the beneficiary; and the beneficiary account number where such an account is used to process the transaction.

In the absence of an account, a unique transaction reference number should be included which permits traceability of the transaction.

Batch transfer:

In the case of batch transfer, where several individual cross-border wire, transfers from a single originator are bundled in a batch file for transmission to beneficiaries, they (i.e., individual transfers) are exempted from the requirements of clause (i) above in respect of originator information, provided that they include the originator’s account number or unique transaction reference number, as mentioned above, and the batch file contains required and accurate originator information, and full beneficiary information, that is fully traceable within the beneficiary country.

Domestic wire transfer:

Domestic wire transfer, where the originator is an account holder of the ordering Regulated Entity (RE) like a bank, shall be accompanied by the originator and beneficiary information, as indicated for cross-border wire transfers in (i) and (ii) above.

In case the Domestic wire transfers of Rupees fifty thousand and above, where the originator is not an account holder of the ordering RE, shall also be accompanied by the originator and beneficiary information as indicated for cross-border wire transfers.

The Customer Due Diligence (CDD) measures in the case of non-individual customers, individual customers, and Sole Proprietary Firms have been amended to include certain additional information/document requirements. To know more read: KYC amendment related to CDD

Related Post:

To know the ‘Video based Customer Identification Process’ click: V-CIP

To know the ‘AMENDMENT TO PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING ACT AND IMPACT’ click PML Act

To know the latest changes in KYC click: Amendment

To know the latest KYC amendment related to customer due diligence click: CDD

Related articles:

1. What are CFT and FATF in banking?
2. What are the RBI norms for periodical updating of KYC?
3. What are the core components of KYC/AML guidelines?
4. KYC documents for current accounts of all varieties
5. How do you open bank accounts under the e-KYC process?
6. What are the valid address proof documents for KYC?
7. What is the relaxed KYC norm for proprietary concerns?
8. KYC/AML guidelines for opening bank account made simple
9. What is Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR)?
10. Many changes were made to KYC in the latest MD