Clarification note on the measures adopted by financial institutions in relation to the refusal, blocking or cancellation of accounts or products adopted in compliance with the obligations derived from the regulations on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Financial institutions are obliged to comply with the regulations on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing – basically contained in Law 10/2010, of 28 April, and in its implementing Regulation, approved by Royal Decree 304/2014, of 5 May – and must therefore apply appropriate risk-based due diligence measures to their customers, for which they will request the necessary information from them. These measures include, among others, the identification and knowledge of the customer, and of the purpose and monitoring of the business relationship. In those cases where r they cannot adequately apply due diligence, financial institutions will not execute transactions or establish business relationships with the customer, or will terminate the relationship already established (see more information in the 2020 Annual report of Banco de España Claims Service, only in Spanish, section 7.4. 17 on Restrictive measures on current accounts adopted by institutions in compliance with requirements derived from money laundering prevention regulations, as well as Banco de España – Sepblac Common Criteria for Good Practices on the application of money laundering prevention regulations when adopting blocking measures or cancelling customer relationships, pages 427 and following).
It should also be stressed that the information contained in the files created and managed by Sepblac for the performance of the functions attributed to it by Law 10/2010, of 28 April, is treated as confidential and has a restricted nature. Therefore, under no circumstances is information on individual customers provided to financial institutions, and hence Sepblac is not involved in the decisions that financial institutions may take when refusing to open or contract accounts or products, blocking them, or proceeding, if necessary, to cancel them, as provided by their customer admission and risk management policies, and in accordance with their obligations established in the regulations on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.