Anti Money Laundering

Compliance Policy

The function of compliance is mainly assimilated to identify, evaluate, advise, monitor, and set up reports of bank’s non-compliance risks that may cause regulatory or administrative penalties, financial loses, and bank’s reputation defacement as a result of its failure to comply with regulatory rules and controls or the failure to conduct professional behaviour norms and sound practices.

Accordingly, the Bank has issued the policies and procedures that governing compliance work:

• Corporate Governance Guide
• Code of Ethics and Conduct
• Conflict of interest policy

Compliance with regulations, standards and regulatory instructions is one of the most important factors for the success of our financial institutions that maintain the reputation, credibility and the interests of shareholders and depositors as well as protecting from any regulatory sanctions.

The standards of trust and integrity are considered the top priority in the relationship between the Bank and its clients.

Also, trust, integrity and transparency are measured as the most important pillars on which the Bank builds its reputation among its customers and entities that deal with.

As well, the protection of this reputation in all activities carried out by the Bank is a well-established feature in the minds of the Bank's managers and employees in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the activities of the Bank, and the Bank's Code of Ethics and Conduct which contains the standards, rules and customs that govern the conduct of employees in their daily duties either with each other or with the clients of the bank i.e. natural or prestigious  persons from entities and administrative sectors both inside and outside the Republic of Yemen.  Bank's Code of Ethics and Conduct derives its source of power from the values and moral principles it contains, as well as from the laws, functional legislations, professional charters, and banking customs that control the work principles of banking sector.

And in order to face the large increase in laws, rules and regulatory instructions as well as to ensure the success of the compliance monitoring program, the Bank is carefully raising awareness and guiding employees in terms of new updates according to their specialization, in addition to providing them with the necessary training and strengthening the principle of commitment among them as it is one of the pillars of accountability.

    In addition to complying with other regulatory requirements based on corporate governance, binding policies and procedures, ethics standards and professional charters that applies on the rules of AML / CFT in accordance with local and international laws and regulations that has been translated into our Bank’s policy, the compliance program principles includes:

• The responsibility of the Board of Directors principle
• The risk-based approach principle
• The know your customer (KYC) principle
• The records keeping principle
• The notification principle
• The principle of investigation and examination standards in accordance with the effective and continuous training.

    The Bank has also developed a comprehensive program of AML / CFT issues, including but not limited to:

• Issuing policies and procedures to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
• The appointment of a Compliance Officer.
• The appointment of liaison officers in the branches.
• Purchasing systems of anti money laundering and terrorist financing.
• Developing continuous training plans.

This is aimed at protecting the Bank from money laundering and terrorist financing operations and preventing its exploitation as a channel for passing suspicious transactions or any other illegal activities, as well as enhancing the integrity of the banking sector and protecting its reputation to ensure the safety of its customers.

The following is a review of some of the key elements covered by the Bank's anti-money laundering and terrorist financing policy:

1. Spreading awareness among the employees of the Bank from the Board of Directors to the minimum levels of employment by engaging them in continuous and periodic training programs of combating money laundering and financing of terrorism.
2. Developing procedures and special guides to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
3. Adapting tasks and responsibilities at all functional levels and in accordance with the requirements of AML / CFT.
4. Adapting all procedures for the implementation of banking services and products in line with the requirements of AML / CFT.
5. Working according to the risk-based approach; classification, monitoring, enhanced due diligence and evaluation.
6.  Working according to due diligence and enhanced principle in accordance with certain models from low risk customers through high risk customers to correspondent banks.
7. Commitment to the period of records keeping prescribed by law for five years, and the preservation process is safe and easy to access.
8. Commitment to updating customer’s data and documents according to the mechanism stipulated in AML / CFT law.
9. Commitment to the continuous monitoring of operations and reporting of suspicious cases using a special system (SAS AML Solution).
10. Working according to an internal reporting program according to special procedures and special models.
11. Working in accordance with an employment policy which included the requirements of AML / CFT.