The Central Bank of Kenya has established a Financial Reporting Centre that will see cases of money laundering in the country reduced. The new centre which came into effect on Wednesday10th October requires that forex bureaus report any transactions exceeding KES 840,000 ($10,000) or anyone with transactions totalling an equivalent amount in a day to the newly-established financial reporting centre.
“The FRC has now been established and is operational. The purpose of this circular, which is being issued under the Central Bank of Kenya Act, is to require all forex bureaus with effect from October 10, 2012, to forward all suspicious transaction reports to the FRC,” read a letter signed by Peter Gatere, Assistant Director CBK Bank Supervision Department.
Forex bureau operators are required to capture commercial details of their customers, motives of transactions and any other additional details under the new rules. This will be on top of establishing basic identities of the customers through officials documents.
“All reporting institutions shall file reports with the Centre (FRC) on all cash transactions exceeding US$ 10,000 or its equivalent in any other currency carried out by it, whether or not the transaction appears to be suspicious,” said the Central Bank in the regulations released on October 1st.
Kenya is among the countries that will be under scrutiny when a 34-member group of mainly European and American countries meets beginning Sunday to constitute a new list of nations that should be blacklisted for failing to implement Anti-money Laundering and Criminalising the Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation.
See Circular.