The Philippines’ central bank has issued a guidance paper for Supervised Financial Institutions (BSFIs) – comprising banks, electronic money issuers, money changers and payment service providers – calling on them to strengthen their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorism and proliferation financing (CTPF) measures for customers engaged in casino junket operations.
The paper, issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday and titled “Risk Management Practices for Customers Engaged in Casino Junket Operations,” also provides safeguards to prevent BSFIs from being used as channels for money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation financing and other illicit activities. Specifically, it identifies red flags associated with casino junket operations, such as unusual cash movements, complex ownership structures of corporate clients and layered transactions.
“Financial transactions linked to casino junket operations can pose elevated money laundering risks,” said Deputy Governor Lyn I. Javier. “We identify the best practices and red flags BSFIs need to watch out for to be strong partners in our shared goal of curtailing crime and safeguarding the integrity of the financial system.”
The paper recommends a raft of measures to strengthen risk management in five areas, namely board and senior management oversight; money laundering and terrorism financing prevention programs; client acceptance and identification; ongoing monitoring and suspicious transaction reporting; and self-assessment and training.
The paper also highlights existing good practices that the BSP suggests BSFIs maintain. These include enhanced due diligence for high-risk clients, automated transaction monitoring, client link analysis, independent verification with regulatory agencies and participation in information-sharing initiatives.
It emphasizes that information sharing between BSFIs and supervising authorities, particularly the BSP and gaming regulator PAGCOR, remain critical in risk management.
The BSP’s paper comes just a week after PAGCOR issued a directive of its own requiring the country’s casino operators and support service providers to immediately review their existing risk models and update their AML and CTF frameworks in line with the findings of its recent Casino Sector Risk Assessment.
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