Suspicious transactions reporting

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Formality description

Article 18 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing establishes that obliged subjects shall, on their own initiative, notify Sepblac of any act or transaction, even the mere attempt, regarding which, following the special review referred to in article 17 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April, there be any indication or certainty that it bears a relation to money laundering or terrorist financing.

In particular, operations are considered to be suspicious and shall be reported to Sepblac when, after the special review, the obliged entity knows, suspects or has reasonable reasons to suspect that they are related to money laundering, or its predicate offenses or terrorism financing, including those cases that show an obvious lack of correspondence with the nature, volume of activity or operating records of the clients, provided that the special review does not show any economic, professional or business justification for the transactions or operations.

Suspicious transactions reports shall be made without delay in accordance with the relevant procedures under article 26 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April and shall, in any case, contain the following information:

  • List and identification of the natural or legal persons taking part in the transaction and the nature of their participation.
  • Activity which the natural or legal persons participating in transactions are known to engage in, and the congruence between this activity and the transactions made.
  • List of transactions and their dates stating their nature, the currency in which they were transacted, the amounts and place or places involved, their purpose and the means of payment or collection used.
  • Steps taken by the institution or person covered by this Law to investigate the transactions being notified.
  • A statement of all the circumstances of whatever kind giving rise to the suspicion or certainty of a link with money laundering or terrorist financing, or evidencing the lack of economic, professional or business justification for the activities carried out.
  • Any other data relevant to the prevention of money laundering or terrorist financing determined in the regulations.

In the case of merely attempted transactions, the obliged subject shall record the transaction as not executed and report to Sepblac on the information obtained.

In any case, the notification made to Sepblac shall be preceded by a structured process of special review of the transaction in accordance with the provisions of article 17 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April.

Target audience

Natural or legal persons holding the status of obliged subject in the terms set forth in article 2 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April.

Notwithstanding the above, it is reminded that obliged subjects listed in article 2.1 (v) to (y) both inclusive, of Law 10/2010 of 28 April are only subject to the obligations on prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing referred to in the aforementioned article of the law and its regulations.

 

Process

By electronic means (only for credit institutions)

Banks, savings banks, cooperative banks, branches in Spain of foreign credit institutions and the CPB referred to in Article 27 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April must necessarily submit their suspicious transactions reports via electronic means, by using the CTL 2.3. software.

The CTL 2.3. software, together with the regulation regarding its use and a user guide, is distributed by Sepblac to those obliged subjects that must report via electronic means.

  • Obtaining the obliged subject digital certificate. For a correct encryption, authentication and signature of suspicious transactions reports, the CTL 2.3 software uses a digital certificate. In order to use the CTL 2.3 software, obliged subjects must submit that CTL 2.3 -generated certificate to Sepblac. During the process of issuing the certificate, the CTL 2.3 application will generate three files which will be saved in the CTL 2.3 working directory defined during the installation process:

CTL 2.3 -generated certificates are valid for a four-year-period, so this operation shall be repeated every time the certificate expires.

  • Accessing the reporting system by electronic means. For the sole purpose of accessing the suspicious transactions reporting system by electronic means, obliged subjects using the CTL 2.3 software for the first time must submit the following documentation to Sepblac:
    • Form F22-5 “Comunicación de datos para la inclusión en el sistema de intercambio telemático – Aplicación CTL 2.3“, fulfilled.

Forma F22-5

The foregoing form must be sent to sepblac.sujetos.obligados@bde.es. This process must be carried out only once.

  • Document containing the details of the digital certificate created by the CTL software.
  • Document containing the signature of the representative or the authorized person by the representative to Sepblac of the obliged subject that must report via electronic means.

The documentation required for the purposes of accession to the suspicious transactions reporting system by electronic means must be submitted in hard copy to the following address:

Sepblac
Calle Alcalá, 48
28014 Madrid Spain

At the same time to the submission of the documentation required for the purposes of accession to the suspicious transactions reporting system by electronic means, obliged subjects shall send the file with the extension .der created by the CTL software to the e-mail address detailed in the user guide sent together with the software.

When, due to its expiration, a certificate used by the CTL software need to be renewed, obliged subjects that must report via electronic means will need to follow the instructions provided during the process of accessing to the electronic reporting system.

In person / By post (only for obliged subjects other than credit institutions)

Obliged subjects other than banks, savings banks, cooperative banks and branches in Spain of foreign credit institutions shall submit their suspicious transactions reports in hard copy and directly, through its representative or the authorized person of the representative to Sepblac to the following address:

Sepblac
Calle Alcalá, 48
28014 Madrid Spain

Alternatively, these documents can be directly presented to the General Registry of the Bank of Spain, located in the aforementioned address.

Form F19-1 specifies the structure that suspicious transactions reports to be sent to Sepblac must have:

Form F19-1

 

Submission deadline

Suspicious transactions reports shall be made without delay, after the structured process of special review referred to in article 17 of Law 10/2010 of 28 April.