Luanda - The National Bank of Angola (BNA) has started sanction proceedings against the commercial banks Millennium Atlântico, Banco de Comércio e Indústria, and Banco Sol for having violated consumer protection standards for financial products and services, failure of internal control and to prevent and fight money laundering, the BNA has said in a statement
According to the BNA statement, Banco Millennium Atlântico (BMA) has failed to comply with the duty to provide information and assistance under the law, regarding the relations established with its customers, contrary to the provisions of Law 14/21 of May 19, the Law of the General Regime of Financial Institutions (LRGIF).
Additionally, this commercial bank violated the 72-hour time limit, issued by the Central Bank, for the return of interest on arrears unduly charged to the complainant, as well as disobeying the clauses of the Leasing Contract, entered into with the client, which culminated in the unilateral restructuring of the aforementioned contract.
BCI Transgressions
As for BCI, the BNA clarifies that there was a failure to comply with the procedures to identify the origin and entry of foreign currency in the country, violating, among other legal provisions, Law No. 5/20 of January 19, Law for the Prevention and Combat Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The bank's breaches also include inadequate parameterization of the computer application in use at this institution, as there is no interconnection with the customer's risk matrix and any risk management and mitigation.
BCI's non-compliances also include irregularities in the identification of customers and lack of justification of the origin and destination of funds.
Banco Sol
In this bank, there were irregularities in the "Know Your Customer" (KYC) and "Customer Due Diligence" (CDD) process of the customers, in violation of the provisions of the Money Laundering Law.
It was also noted an inadequate parameterization and inexistence of interconnection between the computer application "ARGUS-AML" and the "AS400" tool, as well as the non-compliance with the rules for monitoring customers and transactions.
Also noted were irregularities in the identification of customers and the lack of justification of the provenance and destination of funds from foreign exchange operations carried out.
Given this scenario and to deter such conducts, the BNA has determined the application of financial penalties to those financial institutions, as well as the disclosure of the decisions made in the respective sanctioning processes for general and special prevention and the protection of the Financial System.
