What is Customer Due Diligence (CDD)?
Customer Due Diligence is information that comprises of facts about clients, which should enable an organization to assess the extent to which the client exposes it to a range of risks. These risks include money laundering and terrorist financing.
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedures applies during the onboarding of a client but is also an on-going review. Essential components of CDD are:
- Obtaining documents to gather information for identification
- Verifying the authenticity of gathered information
- Ongoing monitoring of client activity for any irregularities
- Contact with Clients from time to time to ensure the provided information are up to date and relevant
Our policies also include:
- Determining that clients are not known or suspected terrorists by checking their names against lists of known or suspected terrorists
- Not accepting cash, money orders, third party transactions, exchange houses transfers or Western Union transfers.
- Money laundering occurs when funds from an illegal/criminal activity are moved through the financial system in such a way as to make it appear that the funds have come from legitimate sources.
Money Laundering usually follows three stages:
Firstly, cash or cash equivalents are placed into the financial system.
Secondly, money is transferred or moved to other accounts (e.g. futures accounts) through a series of financial transactions designed to obscure the origin of the money (e.g. executing transactions with little or no financial risk or transferring account balances to other accounts).
And finally, the funds are re-introduced into the economy so that the funds appear to have come from legitimate sources (e.g. closing a futures account and transferring the funds to a bank account)
Exchange accounts are one vehicle that can be used to launder illicit funds or to hide the true owner of the funds. In particular, an exchange account can be used to execute financial transactions that help obscure the origins of the funds.
ICEX directs funds withdrawals back to the original source of remittance, as a preventative measure. International Anti-Money Laundering requires financial service institutions to be aware of potential money laundering abuses that could occur in a customer’s account and implement a compliance program to deter, detect and report potential suspicious activity.
The exchange account owner declares strict abidance to AML (Anti Money Laundering) regulations. The exchange account owner agrees that the Company may implement regulations and procedures to adhere to AML regulations at its sole discretion. Credit card deposits should be made only from personal (non-corporate) credit cards registered under the exchange account owner name. Refunds and withdrawals will be executed only to the credit card from which the funds were originally deposited from. The Company at its sole discretion shall have the right to pay amounts above the original deposit to a bank account in the exchange account owner name and held in his country of domicile.
Corporate credit cards will not be accepted.
Depositing by wire shall be made only from a bank account in the exchange account owner country of domicile and from an account in his name. Refunds and withdrawals in case of a deposit by wire shall be executed to the same account where the deposit has originally been wired from.
These guidelines have been implemented to protect ICEX markets and its clients.
