1. Introduction
2. The objective of Conectagents is to provide Payment Services where Agents, merchants, users can pay for different services through Conectagents Accounts. Agents can sell utility bills and Airtime using conectagents platform, users can load money on their Conectagents Accounts and pay for Utility bills and purchase Airtime. Merchants can connect with their customers and request to be paid through Conectagents Accounts after their sales.
3. CONECTAGENTS is committed to the highest ethical standards regarding anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) consistent with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations in its “International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation”. This AML/CFT Policy (the Policy) aims to safeguard CONECTAGENTS against money laundering (ML) and the financing of terrorism (FT or TF).
The Policy outlines the principles and minimum standards of internal AML/CFT controls which should be adhered to by CONECTAGENTS to mitigate reputational, regulatory, legal and financial loss risks.
4. This Policy is further to the Board Resolutions. It is part of a broader set of policies aimed at ensuring that CONECTAGENTS funds are used in line with its objectives, and it lays out a set of basic principles for guidance. To operationalize this Policy, a detailed ‘AML/CFT Standard’ will be developed which will define the implementation procedures.
I. Scope and applicability
4. The staff of Conectagents, its governing bodies and every other person working for Conectagents (i.e. Covered Individuals) are required to adhere to this Policy to protect Conectagents, and its reputation, from being misused for ML and/or TF by ensuring that they discharge their responsibilities in a manner that enables the full implementation of this PolPolicy shall apply this Policy to its relationship with its Counterparties. Accredited entities shall, taking into account the nature and type of the entity, apply their own “Know-YourCustomer” and AML/CFT standards over their Counterparties, e.g., executing entities, implementing entities, or any other entity or person involved in the project implementation in accordance with their own policies and procedures.
5. CONECTAGENTS shall take steps to ensure that Accredited Entities, and all other entities that participate in the implementation of CONECTAGENTS activities, have policies that are consistent with the CONECTAGENTS’ AML/CFT Policy.
II. Principles
7. In the context of its overriding objective to provide support to developing countries for the achievement of the goals of the UNFCCC, and with due regard to its fiduciary responsibilities, CONECTAGENTS shall ensure that its funds are not used to finance any illegal acts related to Money Laundering or Terrorist Financing.
8. The Policy shall be consistent with the relevant United Nations (UN) Conventions and Recommendations of the FATF.
9. CONECTAGENTS shall take steps to encourage its counterparties to adopt policies and procedures that are consistent with the principles set out in this Policy, with the purpose of safeguarding CONECTAGENTS resources from being used for Money Laundering or the Financing of Terrorism.
10. CONECTAGENTS Counterparties shall be responsible for identifying and mitigating the risks of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in deploying and managing CONECTAGENTS resources.
III. Purpose and objectives
11. The purpose of the Policy is to provide principles and guidance regarding AML/CFT requirements and risks and to meet the following objectives:
(a) Prevent the abuse of the CONECTAGENTS' resources for ML and/or FT;
(b) Meet applicable legal requirements and international standards in jurisdictions where the CONECTAGENTS and its Counterparties operate;
(c) Mitigate any reputational risk;
(d) Support the establishing and/or strengthening of capacities in countries to meet the
CONECTAGENTS' fiduciary standards regarding AML/CFT
(e) Guard against establishing any relations or undertaking any transaction that may relate to or may facilitate ML and/or FT or any other illicit activity;
(f) Exercise due diligence when dealing with Subscribers, persons appointed to act on behalf of Counterparties and connected parties of the Counterparties; and
(g) Continuously review and update its AML/CFT Policy and its corresponding AML/CFT Standard as threats and international standards evolve to prevent and detect ML and/or FT.
IV. Definitions
12. For the purposes of this Policy the following terms shall have the meaning set out below:
(a) Beneficial Owner means the natural person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a customer and/or the natural person on whose behalf transaction is being conducted. It also includes those persons who exercise ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement.
(b) Board means the Board of the Board means the Board of the CONECTAGENTS'.
(c) Counterparty is any party that contributes to, executes, implements, bids for, or in any way participates in, CONECTAGENTS‐related Activities, including receiving a grant, loan or other form of financing or support from the Fund. Counterparties include a contributor, accredited entity, direct access entity, executing entity, delivery partner, fiscal agent, financial intermediary, vendor and (for the purpose of this policy) any entity within the Secretariat that directly disburses CONECTAGENTS resources including for the Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme.
(d) Counterparty Due Diligence (CDD) is a process to identify and verify the true identity of the Counterparty. This would enable the Fund to assess and evaluate the extent of ML/TF risk associated with the proposed Counterparty.
(e) Covered Individuals means individuals working at any level or grade within the CONECTAGENTS, including (but not limited to) the Executive Director, management and staff of the CONECTAGENTS, and other individuals contracted by the CONECTAGENTS.
(f) Financing of Terrorism or Terrorist Financing (TF) is defined as the commission of any offence as set out in Article 2 of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
(g) Money Laundering (ML) refers to:
(i) The conversion or transfer of property, knowing that such property is derived from crime, 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 the crime to evade the legal consequences of his or her actions;
(ii) The concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement, rights with respect to, or ownership of property, knowing such property is derived from crime, or;
(iii) The acquisition, possession or use of property, knowing at the time of receipt that such property was derived from a criminal offence.
(h) Policy on Prohibited Practices refers to CONECTAGENTS' Interim Policy on Prohibited Practices as adopted by the board
(i) Risk Based Approach (RBA) to AML/CFT is the process of identifying, assessing and understanding ML/TF risks to which CONECTAGENTS is exposed and to take measures commensurate to those risks to mitigate them effectively.
(j) Tipping-off means disclosing the fact to the Counterparty that a suspicious transaction or related information is filed with management or the authorities.
V. Key provisions
The GCF shall adopt and implement a continuous risk-based approach (RBA) to identify, assess and understand its ML and TF risks. It shall also ensure measures to
13. mitigate ML and/or TF are commensurate with the risks identified, enabling decisions on how to allocate its resources in the most effective way.
14. Under this approach, it will adhere to the following to manage AML/CFT risk:
(a) Due diligence
(i) CONECTAGENTS shall apply the Counterparty Due Diligence (CDD) measures, as determined on a risk-based basis, considering the type of counterparty, counterparty relationship, financial instrument and country of operation.
(ii) CONECTAGENTS shall identify and verify the identity of its Subscribers (including Agents and Users) with which CONECTAGENTS enters a counterparty relationship.
(b) Counterparty relationships
(i) CONECTAGENTS shall take reasonable measures to duly assess the purpose, economic rationale and overall AML/CFT and related integrity aspects of the Counterparty and its Beneficial Owners to avoid being involved in relationships structured for the purposes of ML and TF.
(ii) CONECTAGENTS will not engage with, and will terminate the existing Counterparty relationship if any, with:
1. Counterparties who do not cooperate with its CDD efforts;
2. Counterparties engaged in activities prohibited under the CONECTAGENTS' Policy on Prohibited Practices; or
3. Counterparties who are currently under any financial sanctions imposed by United Nations.
(c) Monitoring: It shall be the responsibility of the Independent Integrity Unit to monitor the implementation of the policy.
(d) Reporting: Any suspicious information or red flag that comes to the knowledge of a Covered Individual indicating ML/TF must be immediately reported by such Covered Individual to the Independent Integrity Unit without informing the Counterparty or other third parties (‘Tipping Off’) that a suspicious activity is being reported or investigated.
(e) Record keeping: CONECTAGENTS shall keep for at least 5 (five) years all records obtained through CDD measures and documentation regarding counterparty relations and executed transactions, and correspondence with the Counterparty.
(f) Confidentiality: CONECTAGENTS will ensure the information on Counterparties and transactions obtained while fulfilling AML/CFT requirements is kept confidential.
(g) Implementation: CONECTAGENTS will develop further documentation and guidance (AML/CFT Standard or Procedures) to implement and better enable Covered Individuals to follow this Policy.
(h) Review: CONECTAGENTS will review and examine its AML/CFT Policy and maintain an effective implementation of the AML/CFT Policy for the CONECTAGENTS' activities reflecting international best practices, consistent with evolving FATF Recommendations and changing requirements.
VI. Key responsibilities
15. Board: The Board is responsible for ensuring governance and oversight of the CONECTAGENTS' risk management framework and controls regarding ML and FT.
16. Internal Audit: The Internal Audit unit shall, in accordance with its own mandate, provide such support as may be required by the Independent Integrity Unit to monitor adherence to the AML/CFT Policy.
17. Secretariat of CONECTAGENTS: The IIU and the Secretariat will cooperate to ensure effective implementation of this policy, with responsibilities allocated in accordance with their respective mandates.
18. Staff of CONECTAGENTS and associated persons: Staff members, consultants and other associated persons shall be responsible for:
(a) Complying with CONECTAGENTS' AML/CFT Policy, standard and controls;
(b) Familiarizing themselves with and acting in accordance with relevant CONECTAGENTS processes and procedures to manage AML/CFT compliance; and
(c) Reporting to the Independent Integrity Unit without undue delay any suspicions (or actual occurrences) or red flags of ML/TF activities.
VII. Amendment to the Policy
19. The Board shall approve the implementation of the AML/CFT Policy and any amendments thereto.
VIII. Review
20. This Policy shall be reviewed at such intervals as required, to reflect international best practices, consistent with evolving FATF recommendations or as otherwise required by the Board.