Follow KYC norms or face penalty, RBI tells banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today asked banks to strictly follow the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) norms or Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards, failing which it will take penal action.

"Any contravention thereof or non-compliance shall attract penalties under Banking Regulation Act, 1949," the RBI said in a notification.

Banks are required to strictly adhere to KYC norms, AML standards, Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT), Obligation of banks under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, it said.

The RBI said banks are required to prepare a risk profile of each customer and apply enhanced due diligence measures on higher risk customers.

Banks and Financial Institutions should have policies, controls and procedures, duly approved by their boards, in place to effectively manage and mitigate their risk adopting a risk-based approach, it said.

As a corollary, banks would be required to adopt enhanced measures for products, services and customers with a medium or high risk rating, it added.

In this regard, it said, Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has taken initiative in assessment of money laundering and financial terror and risk in the banking sector.

The IBA guidance also provides an indicative list of high risk customers, products, services and geographies. Banks may use the same as guidance in their own risk assessment, it added.