Insurance regulators set to sign info exchange deal

The use of insurance products for money laundering would become more difficult as officials said insurance regulators are about to sign an agreement that would facilitate information exchange between countries.

Insurance Commissioner (IC) Evangeline Escobillo told reporters that although banking-related information was already being shared by countries through their respective financial intelligence units (FIUs), there was a need for a different level of exchange for insurance products.

Escobillo said private individuals that acquire insurance products in other countries normally do not disclose their acquisition and insurance companies do not report.

Escobillo said the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) was in the thick of discussions with its counterparts, together with the IC and its counterparts.

"This is an increasingly global market," Escobillo said. "There is already a reciprocity agreement for information exchange by the member countries of the anti money laundering task forces," Escobillo said. "This is just an additional aspect that would cover insurance products."

Escobillo, who sits as a member of the AMLC, said talks were also still on-going on the proposal to clamp down on non-profit organizations as well as so-called financial gatekeepers such as lawyers and accountants to comply with additional requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

After being removed from the FATF blacklist, the Philippines has been removed from the monitoring list of the task force since February 2005. However, the task force has revised and expanded its original 40 recommendations which has been adapted by the Asia Pacific Group where the Philippines is a member.

The AMLC said that the regulatory net of the Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA) should be expanded to include non-profit organizations that routinely receive donations, often from unquestioned sources.

Moreover, professionals who facilitate financial transactions such as lawyers, notary publics and even accountants should also be required to report suspicious transactions that could indicate laundering of dirty money.

The so-called revised 40 recommendations of the FATF included provisions for the monitoring and regulation of funds coursing through non-profit organizations.

According to AMLC, these organizations are not currently required to report their transactions to the AMLC but they could be covered by separate regulations to be issued by the Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC).

The AMLC said the SEC could issue new guidelines for reporting anomalous transactions applicable to non-profit organizations which have long been suspected as possible channels for dirty funds.

However, requiring certain professionals to report anomalous transactions would require an amendment to the AMLA since they are not covered by the law.