RBI makes changes to KYC norms to align it with money laundering rules

According to the Amendment to the Master Direction - Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016, regulated entities (REs) will have to apply the customer due diligence (CDD) procedure at UCIC level

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The Reserve Bank on Wednesday made changes to the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms to align them with recent amendments carried out in the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules and revised certain existing instructions.

According to the Amendment to the Master Direction - Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016, regulated entities (REs) will have to apply the customer due diligence (CDD) procedure at the unique customer identification code (UCIC) level.

"Thus, if an existing KYC-compliant customer of a RE desires to open another account or avail any other product or service from the same RE, there shall be no need for a fresh CDD exercise as far as identification of the customer is concerned," it said.

The amended provisions in the Master Direction have come into force with immediate effect, said the circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in this regard.

Amendments have also been made regarding CDD Procedure and sharing KYC information with the Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR).

"Whenever the RE obtains additional or updated information from any customer...the RE shall within seven days or within such period as may be notified by the Central Government, furnish the updated information to CKYCR, which shall update the KYC records of the existing customer in CKYCR," the RBI said.

CKYCR is an entity which receives, stores, safeguards and retrieves KYC records in the digital form of a customer.