Neither I, as Minister for Finance, nor the Central Bank of Ireland can direct an institution as to what commercial decisions it can and cannot take, provided that the institution complies with all applicable legal and regulatory obligations pertaining to its authorisation to provide financial products and services. Therefore, the decision by an institution to provide or restrict money remittances is not a matter for my Department or the Central Bank of Ireland.
From an Anti-Money Launder/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) perspective, we are not aware of any legal or regulatory obstacle placed by the State to persons in Ireland sending remittances through Irish banks to Cuba.
Cuba is not on the list of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force, the organisation which sets the global standards in the AML/CFT area, of which Ireland is a long standing member. In addition, Cuba has not been deemed a ‘high risk third country’ by the EU.
It should be noted that banks are designated persons under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 and consequently have AML/CFT obligations to meet under that legislation.
In meeting these obligations, banks are required to adopt a risk-based approach to the conduct of their business. A commercial bank is required to undertake a business-wide money laundering/terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk assessment to identify and assess the risks of ML/TF involved in carrying on its business. I am informed that the factors which a Bank is required to take into consideration as part of its’ business wide ML/TF risk assessment shall include: customer type, the financial products and services provided, countries and geographical areas where it operates and the delivery channels it uses.
I have no role in influencing the risk tolerances which banks choose to accept in this area and consequently cannot direct them as to what approach they should adopt. In addition, I would point out that banks’ commercial decisions may be based on a wide range of factors.
