Credit and Financial Institutions are obliged to identify and verify their customer’s identity on the basis of documents or information that they have reasonable grounds to believe can be relied upon to confirm the identify of their customer. Institutions often use official documents, like passports or driving licences, in order to verify a customer’s identity. However, neither the relevant legislation (the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, as amended), nor the Central Bank of Ireland are prescriptive as to what documents and information can be relied upon. This reflects the risk-based approach to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance and supervision. Accordingly, institutions have some flexibility in regards to the forms of identity documentation they may wish to rely upon.
Therefore, the AML/CFT legal framework is sufficiently flexible to allow institutions to accommodate both financial inclusion and effective risk management through reliance on various forms of identification which include, but are not limited to, passports.
In accordance with this approach to AML/CFT matters, I have no plans at this time to introduce regulations outlining the forms of identification which financial institutions may request when a customer applies to open a new bank account.
