AML Policy
Trustsend Ltd (hereinafter referred to as the “Company“) has no tolerance for
money laundering, terrorism financing, or any other illicit activities. The company is
dedicated to implementing policies, procedures, and controls based on the best
industry practices and the most effective anti-money laundering standards in Cyprus
and worldwide. These rules apply universally to all employees, Board members,
officers, contractors, and consultants of the Company.
The purpose of this document is to provide the Company’s partners, clients, vendors,
contractors, employees, regulators, law enforcement, and other concerned
stakeholders with a high-level overview of the Company’s AML/CTF compliance
elements and procedures. This document is not intended to be a comprehensive set
of all policies, procedures, and controls implemented by the Company to prevent
money laundering, terrorism financing, and other illicit activities.
The Company is fully committed to be constantly vigilant to prevent money
laundering and combat the financing of terrorism in order to minimize and manage
risks such as reputational risk, legal risk and regulatory risk. It is also committed to its
social duty to prevent serious crime and not to allow its systems to be abused in
furtherance of these crimes.
The Company endeavors to keep itself updated with developments both at the
national and international level on any initiatives to prevent money laundering and
the financing of terrorism. The Company’s policies, procedures and internal controls
are designed to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, rules, directives and
regulations relevant to the Company’s operations and will be reviewed and updated
on a regular basis to ensure appropriate policies, procedures and internal controls are
in place.
The Company understands money laundering as:
1. the conversion or transfer of property, knowing that such property is derived
from criminal activity or from an act of participation in such activity, for the
purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property or of
assisting any person who is involved in the commission of such an activity to
evade the legal consequences of that person’s action;
2. the concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition,
movement, rights with respect to, or ownership of, property, knowing that such
property is derived from criminal activity or from an act of participation in such
an activity;
3. the acquisition, possession or use of property, knowing, at the time of receipt,
that such property was derived from criminal activity or from an act of
participation in such an activity.
Terrorist financing involves providing funds for terrorist activities. Legally, it refers
to the provision or collection of funds, by any means, directly or indirectly, with the
intention or knowledge that they will be used, in whole or in part, to carry out any of
the offenses described in Articles 1 to 4 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA.
The primary goal of terrorist activity is to intimidate a population or compel a
government to act. This is achieved through intentional actions such as killing,
seriously harming or endangering individuals, causing substantial property damage
likely to seriously harm people, or seriously interfering with or disrupting essential
services, facilities, or systems.
RISK-BASED APPROACH AND RISK ASSESSMENT
The Company will conduct risk-based due diligence and gather information and
documentation on each prospective client to evaluate their risk profile. Employees will
exercise care, due diligence, and good judgment in assessing the overall character
and nature of all clients. The Company adheres to the highest ethical standards and
will avoid business relationships with individuals or entities that could harm the
Company's reputation or compromise the virtual currency industry.
To identify, assess, and analyze the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing
related to its activities, the Company prepares a risk assessment, considering the
following categories:
1. Customer risk;
2. Geographical risk;
3. Product risk; and
4. Delivery channel risk.
After the risk assessed and attributed to a particular customer, depending on degree
of risk, it should be revised periodically upon knowledge of the customer and its
activity.
COMPLIANCE OFFICER
The management board of the Company shall appoint a Compliance Officer, who acts
as a contact person of the The Unit for Combating Money Laundering and Financial
Intelligence Unit of Cyprus (MOKAS) and performs AML/CTF duties and obligations of
the Company. A Compliance Officer reports directly to the management board and has
the competence, means and access to relevant information across all the structural
units of the Company.
The duties of a Compliance Officer include, inter alia:
1. organisation of the collection and analysis of information referring to unusual
transactions or transactions or circumstances suspected of money laundering
or terrorist financing, which have become evident in the activities of the
Company;
2. reporting to the MOKAS in the event of suspicion of money laundering or
terrorist financing;
3. periodic submission of written statements on compliance with the
requirements arising from the Act to the management board of the Company;
4. performance of other duties and obligations related to compliance with the
requirements of the Act.
RULES OF PROCEDURE AND INTERNAL CONTROL RULES
The Company has established and implemented procedures to effectively mitigate
and manage risks related to money laundering and terrorist financing, as identified in
the risk assessment conducted in accordance with the Company's risk-based
approach. All employees must strictly adhere to the procedures outlined in these
rules.
The rules of procedure consist of the following:
1. a procedure for the application of due diligence measures regarding a
customer, including a procedure for the application of simplified and enhanced
due diligence measures;
2. a model for identification and management of risks relating to a customer and
its activities and the determination of the customer’s risk profile;
3. the methodology and instructions where the Company has a suspicion of
money laundering and terrorist financing or an unusual transaction or
circumstance is involved as well as instructions for performing the reporting
obligation;
4. the procedure for data retention and making data available;
5. instructions for effectively identifying whether a person is a politically exposed
person or a local politically exposed person subject to international sanctions.
The Company applies the following due diligence measures:
1. identification of a customer and verification of the submitted information based
on information obtained from a reliable and independent source, including
using means of electronic identification and of trust services for electronic
transactions;
2. identification of the beneficial owner and, for the purpose of verifying their
identity, taking measures to the extent that allows the Company to make
certain that it knows who the beneficial owner is, and understands the
ownership and control structure of the customer;
3. understanding of business relationships, and, where relevant, gathering
information thereon;
4. gathering information on whether a person is a politically exposed person, their
family member or a person known to be close associate;
5. monitoring of a business relationship.
SIMPLIFIED DUE DILIGENCE
The Company may implement simplified due diligence (“SDD”) measures when a risk
assessment, based on these procedures, determines that the economic or
professional activity, field, or circumstances present a lower-than-usual risk of money
laundering or terrorist financing. Before applying SDD measures to a customer, an
employee of the Company must confirm that the business relationship, transaction, or
activity is of lower risk, and the Company must assign a lower degree of risk to the
transaction, activity, or customer.
The use of SDD measures is allowed as long as the Company ensures adequate
monitoring of transactions, activities, and business relationships. This monitoring
must be sufficient to identify unusual transactions and to report suspicious
transactions in accordance with these procedures.
ENHANCED DUE DILIGENCE
The Company applies enhanced due diligence (“EDD“) measures in order to
adequately manage and mitigate a higher-than-usual risk of money laundering and
terrorist financing.
EDD measures are applied always when:
1. upon identification of a person or verification of submitted information, there
are doubts as to the truthfulness of the submitted data, authenticity of the
documents or identification of the beneficial owner;
2. the customer is a politically exposed person;
3. the customer is from a high-risk third country or their place of residence or seat
in a high-risk third country;
4. the customer is from such country or territory that, according to credible
sources such as mutual evaluations, reports or published follow-up reports, has
not established effective AML/CTF systems that are in accordance with the
recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, or that is considered a low
tax rate territory.
The Company applies EDD measures also where a risk assessment prepared on the
basis of these rules identifies that, in the case of the economic or professional activity,
field or factors, the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing is higher than usual.
PEP DEFINITION AND SCREENING
Politically Exposed Persons (“PEP”), along with their families and known close
associates (as defined below), must undergo enhanced scrutiny by reporting entities.
This requirement stems from international standards set by the Financial Action Task
Force, which acknowledge that PEPs may exploit their public positions for personal
gain and potentially use the financial system to launder the proceeds from such abuse
of office.
PEP means a natural person who is or who has been entrusted with prominent public
functions including:
1. head of State;
2. head of government;
3. minister and deputy or assistant minister;
4. a member of parliament or of a similar legislative body;
5. a member of a governing body of a political party;
6. a member of a supreme court;
7. a member of a court of auditors or of the board of a central bank;
8. an ambassador, a chargé d’affaires and a high-ranking officer in the armed
forces;
9. a member of an administrative, management or supervisory body of a State-
owned enterprise;
10.a director, deputy director and member of the board or equivalent function of
an international organisation,
PEPs do not include mid-level or junior officials.
A family member of a PEP refers to the spouse, or someone considered equivalent
to a spouse, of a PEP or local PEP; a child and their spouse, or someone considered
equivalent to a spouse, of a PEP or local PEP; and a parent of a PEP or local PEP.
A close associate of a PEP is a person known to be the beneficial owner or to have
joint beneficial ownership of a legal entity or arrangement, or any other close
business relationship, with a PEP or local PEP; as well as a person who has sole
beneficial ownership of a legal entity or arrangement that is known to have been
established for the de facto benefit of a PEP or local PEP.
SANCTIONS SCREENING
Dealing with persons against which imposed international sanctions poses a great risk
to the Company, its directors, officers and owners.
The Company will perform sanction screening of its customers on the same matching
rules, as for PEP screening.
The Company will perform screening, at minimum, against the following sanctions
lists:
1. UN Sanctions;
2. EU Sanctions;
3. Sanctions administered by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation
(“OFSI-UK”)
4. Sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC-US“);
5. Sanctions imposed under the International Sanction Act.
All matches (true hits) will be escalated to a Compliance Officer for further action and
processing.
SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY MONITORING AND REPORTING
If the Company identifies an activity or circumstances indicating the use of criminal
proceeds, terrorist financing, or other criminal offenses, or suspects or knows it
involves money laundering, terrorist financing, or another criminal offense, a
Compliance Officer must promptly report it to MOKAS. This report must be made
immediately upon identification of the activity or circumstances, or upon forming a
suspicion, and no later than two working days thereafter.
The Company and all its employees, officers, and directors are prohibited from
informing any person, including their beneficial owner, representative, or third party,
about a report submitted to MOKAS, the intention to submit such a report, or the
commencement of criminal proceedings.
DATA RETENTION
The Company is required to retain documents and information used for client
identification and verification for a minimum of five years following the termination of
the business relationship.
The Company has established procedures to protect personal data in accordance with
its obligations under these requirements.
Personal data collected under these procedures may only be processed by the
Company for the purpose of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
Such data must not be further processed for purposes unrelated to this objective,
such as marketing.
TRAINING
The Compliance Officer is responsible for ensuring that all Company employees fully
understand their legal obligations under the AML/CTF regime through a
comprehensive education and training program.
The timing and content of the training are tailored to the Company's specific needs.
Training frequency may vary based on updates to legal and regulatory requirements,
changes in employee responsibilities, and other shifts in the business model. The
training program aims to educate Company employees on the latest advancements in
preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, covering practical methods and
emerging trends in this field.
COOPERATION AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
The Company collaborates with supervisory and law enforcement authorities to
prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. This involves promptly sharing
available information and responding to inquiries within a reasonable timeframe, in
accordance with legislative duties, obligations, and constraints. For any relevant
inquiries, please contact us at help@trustsend.io. Please be aware that if you
represent a law enforcement agency outside the European Union, procedures under
the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) may apply.
