Anti-Money Laundering (AML)

The Anti-Money Laundering unit acts as a competence centre at group level for the ‘Know Your Customer’ (customer identification) requirements of this legislation. The AML unit is also responsible for implementing embargo measures imposed by bodies such as the EU and US and for tax-fraud-prevention purposes. In this context, we have taken the following initiatives on FATCA and CRS:

• FATCA: the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is aimed at combating tax evasion by US taxpayers. It obliges foreign financial institutions to provide extensive information on specified US persons to the US Internal Revenue Service. In order to comply with the requirements imposed by the act within the KBC group, the AML unit of Group Compliance has issued a new Group Compliance Rule on FATCA. All FATCA-relevant KBC entities (subsidiaries and branches) have been registered on the portal of the US Internal Revenue Service, identifying them as FATCA-compliant financial institutions.
• CRS: the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard. In the wake of FATCA, and in keeping with the global drive for greater international tax transparency, the European Council adopted a directive in December 2014 that will help member states to clamp down on tax evasion. The directive brings interest, dividends and gross proceeds from the sale of financial assets and other income, as well as account balances, within the scope of the automatic exchange of information.