Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 January 2022
175. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Finance the position of the Government with regard to Irish banks, particularly those that are largely in State hands, freezing or suspending the accounts of customers who conduct personal banking with Iran-based bank accounts. [4100/22]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that Banks are designated persons under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, and consequently have Anti-Money Laundering / Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations to meet under that legislation. In meeting these obligations, banks are required to adopt a risk based approach as to how they conduct their business and who they conduct it with. I therefore have no role in influencing the risk tolerances banks should accept in this area and consequently cannot direct them as to what approach they should adopt.
Additionally, Irish banks are subject to the provisions of Council Regulation (EU) No. 267/2012 of 23 March 2012 and Council Regulation (EU) No 359/2011 of 12 April 2011 which impose restrictive measures (sanctions) in relation to Iran and the individuals listed in their annexes.
My officials contacted the three banks in which the State has a shareholding and received the following responses:
AIB
"The bank may freeze or suspend accounts for any customer where required to do so to meet regulatory or legal requirements"
PTSB
" In line with our terms & conditions and in order to ensure we meet our overarching obligations in terms of the prevention of money Laundering/terrorist financing and compliance with Sanctions; PTSB does not process any payments to or from Iran-based bank accounts"
Bank of Ireland
" Bank of Ireland is a diversified Financial Services Group which adheres to all legislative and regulatory requirements applicable in each of the jurisdictions in which it operates. These include all requirements emanating from the European Union, HM Treasury, United Nations and US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
"In line with Department of Finance guidelines in relation to country and geographic risks for money laundering and terrorist financing, country risk is not solely related to the country of origin of a customer but also takes into account business links or other links the customer may have to a particular country. "As such, when financial institutions within this jurisdiction, including Bank of Ireland, consider a country to be a high risk jurisdiction for the purposes of their AML and sanctions policies, it requires enhanced monitoring to be conducted, in accordance with their legal obligations.”
