Pauline Tully
Question:248. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Finance if a bank can insist on a PPS number for a person to open an account; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1461/21]
View answerWednesday, 13 January 2021
Questions (248)
Written answers
I am advised that, section 33 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, as amended (“the Act”), sets out obligations in relation to the identification and verification of customers and beneficial owners. Section 33(2) sets out the following measures that shall be applied by designated persons (which include banks and credit unions):
“(a) identifying the customer, and verifying the customer's identity on the basis of documents (whether or not in electronic form), or information, that the designated person has reasonable grounds to believe can be relied upon to confirm the identity of the customer, including -
(i) documents from a government source (whether or not a State government source), or
(ii) any prescribed class of documents, or any prescribed combination of classes of documents;”.
It is important to note that the Act is not overly prescriptive as to what documentation and information a designated person must obtain, or the methods by which such documentation and information should be gathered, in order to comply with its customer due diligence obligations. The Central Bank, which is the supervisor of banks for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (“AML/CFT”) purposes, also does not prescribe which documents or information may be accepted by a credit institution in compliance with the Act. This reflects the risk based approach to AML compliance and supervision which is enshrined in EU law, and which allows a credit institution to decide which documents or information it will accept to identity and verify a customer, having first assessed the risks posed to the credit institution in accepting such person as a customer.
In relation to applications for credit, the Credit Reporting Act 2013 requires credit information providers (which also includes banks and credit unions) to verify the identity of credit information subjects for the purposes of accurately accessing the central credit register. The information which may be legally requested for this purpose is set out in regulations under that Act and it includes documentation which will verify the person's name and date of birth, address and PPSN.
I am advised by the Minister for Social protection that the legal basis of the PPS number is set out in the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005. This legislation provides for the allocation, use and sharing of the PPS number. The PPS number remains a restricted number which can only be used by certain specified bodies and only for the purposes of public service transactions.
It is an offence for any person or body to request or hold a record of a PPS number unless they are legally entitled to so. Therefore it is the duty of all bodies to ensure that they are legally entitled to do so, before they request or hold a record of any person's PPS Number.
More generally, the provisions of data protection legislation, including the GDPR, will apply and banks and other financial institutions like all other relevant data controllers will also have to comply with these provisions.
Question No. 249 answered with Question No. 245.