Jordan’s Jurisdiction Under CBJ’s Whip: A Glance
Following the October 2021 review, FATF places Jordan among the jurisdictions put under increased monitoring. Jordan has been put under the “grey list” in layman terms. So the country is set to strengthen its compliance policies swiftly.
In this endeavor, Jordan has worked with the FATF and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force to strengthen its AML/CFT regime. In fact, since adopting its Mutual Evaluation Report in November 2019, Jordan has gone a long way in improving its AML framework. One major step in this regard is finalizing its National Risk Assessment.
Other measures it will take to implement its FATF action plan:
- Completing and disseminating the ML/TF risk assessments of Non-Profit Organisations, virtual assets, and legal persons.
- Conducting training and awareness-raising programs for DNFBPs on their AML/CFT obligations, specifically filing and submitting STRs.
- Improvement of risk-based supervision and applying proportionate, effective, and dissuasive sanctions for noncompliance.
- Maintaining comprehensive and updated essential and beneficial ownership information on legal persons and legal arrangements.
- Making a legal obligation for confiscating instrumentalities used/intended to be used in money laundering crimes.
- Pursuing money laundering investigations & prosecutions, including thorough parallel financial investigations to identify offenses identified in the NRA.
- Developing & implementing a legal and institutional framework for targeted financial sanctions.
- Developing & implementing a risk-based approach for supervising the NPO sector to prevent abuse for terrorist financing purposes.
A risk-based approach is at the center of AML-TRACE. It is a one-time installation, automated software that accurately assesses financial fraud risk through customer screening and transaction monitoring processes.
New anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regulations have been put forth by the Central Bank of Jordan for licensed banks. The amendments include directing banks to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of money laundering and terrorism funding possibilities annually and working on a risk-evaluation basis. A new focus has been put on the importance of policies and measures to manage and reduce money laundering and terrorism funding risks.
New procedures have been laid out for Jordan banks to identify clients and check on them. Earlier, the regulations underscored the need for identifying & inspecting the identity of the actual beneficiary on a risk-assessment basis.
Other features:
- Jordan will adopt a risk-based approach to know if a Jordanian or foreign client is a high-risk political person. Appropriate measures will also be taken if the person is classified as dangerous.
- The new regulations also explained the responsibility of banks during the conducting of transactions, whether sending, receiving, or mediating in transferring money.
- The regulations require developing training plans and programs on anti-money laundering and terrorism funding and allocating a yearly budget for training purposes.
- Meanwhile, the Anti Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Unit of Jordan also receive notifications regarding any suspicious transaction. It then requests related information from the authorities concerned to analyze and investigate such transactions. Eventually, the competent authorities are provided with information to take corrective steps for minimizing money laundering and terrorist financing activities.