Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

16.   Responsibility of financial institution or person engaged in other business activity

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   (1)   A financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity shall —

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      (a)     establish and maintain transaction records for both domestic and international transactions for a period of seven years after the completion of the transaction recorded;

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      (b)     where evidence of a person's identity is obtained in accordance with section 15, establish and maintain a record that indicates the nature of the evidence obtained and which comprises either a copy of the evidence or information as would enable a copy of it to be maintained;

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      (c)     report to the Authority a transaction where the identity of a person involved in the transaction or the circumstances relating to the transaction gives an employee of the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction involves the proceeds of criminal conduct; (Substituted by Act 13 of 2013 and by Act 20 of 2016)

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      (d)     report to the Authority where accounts and business relationships are terminated or closed because the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity is unable to satisfy itself as to the background and purpose of the transaction;

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      (e)     comply with an instruction issued to it by the Authority under section 6(e);

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      (f)     permit a member of the Authority to enter into any premises of the financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity during normal working hours; and —

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         (i)     inspect the transaction records kept under paragraph (a),

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         (ii)     make notes or take a copy of the whole or part of the transaction record,

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         (iii)     answer any questions from the Authority in relation to the transaction record;

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      (g)     develop and apply internal policies, procedures or controls relevant to the size of the business, which are approved by senior management or the board of directors, to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing which enables the control and mitigation of the risks identified, including —

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         (i)     monitoring the implementation of the controls and enhancing the controls, if necessary,

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         (ii)     developing audit functions to test the policies, procedures or controls and, where a high risk is identified, enhance the policies, procedures or controls to manage and mitigate the risk;

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      (Substituted by Act 16 of 2021)

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      (h)     develop and apply policies and procedures to address specific risks associated with non-face-to-face business relationships or countries that do not apply the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations;

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      (i)     comply with the guidelines or training requirements issued by the Authority or the Central Bank in accordance with this Act; (Amended by Act 16 of 2021)

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      (j)     develop a procedure to audit compliance with this section;

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      (k)     report to the Authority any suspicious transaction or attempted transaction relating to money laundering or other criminal conduct as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event, within 7 days of the date the transaction or attempted transaction is deemed to be suspicious; (Substituted by Act 16 of 2021)

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      (l)     upon the request of the Authority, report to the Authority all currency transactions in excess of $25,000;

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      (m)     report to the Authority complex transactions or unusual transactions;

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      (n)     appoint a Compliance Officer at the management level who must be a fit and proper person approved by the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity;

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      (o)     develop, as part of internal policies, procedures and controls, appropriate compliance management arrangements and adequate screening procedures to ensure high standards when hiring employees, including, an ongoing employee training programme. (Substituted by Act 16 of 2021)

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   (1A)   A financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity who fails to report a suspicious transaction under section 15(2)(c), 16(1)(d), 16(1) (k) or 17(6A) commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars.

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   (Inserted by Act 16 of 2021)

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   (2)   Where a financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity discloses information to the Authority in accordance with this Act, but in breach of another enactment or a contract, the financial institution or a person engaged in other    business activity, the director or employees of the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity are not liable for the breach.

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   (3)   Where a financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity makes any report pursuant to subsection (1) the financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity and the employees, staff, directors, owners or other representatives of the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity shall not disclose to the person who is the subject of the report or to anyone else —

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      (a)     that the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity has formed a suspicion;

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      (b)     that information has been communicated to the Authority; or

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      (c)     any other information from which the person to whom the information is disclosed could reasonably be expected to infer that the suspicion had been formed or that a report had been made, or is in the process of being made, under subsection (1). (Substituted by Act 13 of 2013)

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   (4)   Where a financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity acts in contravention of subsection (3), a person who, at the time of the commission of the offence, acted or purported to act in an official capacity for or on behalf of the financial institution or person engaged in other business activity, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than $100,000 and not exceeding $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not less than 7 years and not exceeding 15 years or both.

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   (5)   A financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity shall keep a record in the true name of the account holder.

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   (6)   In any case where the Authority has notified a financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity in writing that particular records are or may be relevant to an investigation that is being carried out, records must be retained pending the outcome of the investigation.

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   (7)   A financial institution or person engaged in other business activity shall keep a record —

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      (a)     if the record relates to the opening of an account with the financial institution for a period of 7 years after the day on which the account is closed;

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      (b)     if the record relates to the renting by a person of a deposit box held by the financial institution, for a period of 7 years after the day on which the deposit box ceases to be used by the person; or

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      (c)     in any other case including occasional transactions, for a period of 7 years after the day on which the transaction recorded takes place. (Amended by Act 16 of 2021)

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   (7A)   A financial institution or person engaged in other business activity shall pay attention to —

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      (a)     all complex, unusual or large transactions, whether complicated or not;

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      (b)     electronic funds transfers that do not contain complete originator information;

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      (c)     insignificant but periodic transactions that have no apparent or visible economic or lawful purpose; and

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      (d)     relations and transactions with persons including businesses and other financial institutions from countries that have not adopted comprehensive and effective money laundering systems.

(Inserted by Act 20 of 2016)

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   (8)        A financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity shall keep all records or copies of records in a form that will allow retrieval in legible form of the records within a reasonable period of time in order to reconstruct the transaction for the purpose of assisting the investigation and prosecution of a suspected money laundering offence, or other criminal conduct. (Amended by Act 16 of 2021)

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   (9)   A financial institution or a person engaged in other business activity that contravenes subsection (8) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than $100,000 and not exceeding $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not less than 7 years and not exceeding 15 years or both.