Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 October 2018
170. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the reason some mortgage holders have been written to by their banks demanding photo identification; if there have been recent legal or regulatory changes that provoked these letters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39457/18]
View answerThe customer due diligence requirements are set out in the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (as amended by the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2013). Section 33 of the 2010 Act requires designated persons (such as banks) to take steps to identify and verify a customer’s identity prior to establishing a business relationship with the customer or when carrying out an occasional transaction with, for, or on behalf of the customer or assisting the customer to carry out an occasional transaction.
Furthermore, where a designated person has reasonable grounds to doubt the veracity or adequacy of documentation on file for an existing customer it must obtain up-to-date Customer Due Diligence documentation, otherwise known as CDD, identifying and verifying the customer prior to carrying out any further services for the customer.
I have been informed by the Central Bank of Ireland that in meeting their obligations under the Act, banks as designated persons are required to adopt a risk based approach as to how they conduct their business and who they conduct it with.
Further the Central Bank has informed my officials that it does not prescribe how designated persons should comply with these obligations. Accordingly, it is a matter for the designated person to determine when it will contact its customers for up-to-date CDD documentation in accordance with its own policies and procedures.
