Programmes and measures to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
s 74
Open ↗74.—(1) A pawnbroker must implement adequate programmes and measures to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024] (2) A pawnbroker must, in particular —(a) take appropriate steps to identify, assess and understand the risks of money laundering, terrorism financing and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in relation to —(i) its pawners; (ii) the countries or jurisdictions that its pawners are from or in; (iii) the countries or jurisdictions in which it has operations; and (iv) its products, services, transactions and delivery channels;[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024] (b) for the purpose of paragraph (a) —(i) document its risk assessments; (ii) consider all relevant risk factors before determining the overall level of risk and the appropriate type and extent of mitigation to be applied; (iii) keep its risk assessments up to date; and (iv) have appropriate mechanisms to provide its risk assessments to the Registrar; (c) develop and implement internal policies, procedures and controls, which must be approved by its senior management, to manage and effectively mitigate the risks of money laundering, terrorism financing and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, identified by it or notified to it by the Registrar, including —(i) making appropriate compliance management arrangements, including the appointment of a compliance officer at the management level; and (ii) applying adequate screening procedures when hiring employees;[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024] (d) have an ongoing programme to train employees on the internal policies, procedures and controls in paragraph (c); (e) have an independent audit function to test the internal policies, procedures and controls in paragraph (c); and (f) monitor the implementation of the internal policies, procedures and controls in paragraph (c), and enhance them if necessary. (3) The type and extent of the measures to be taken under subsections (1) and (2) must be appropriate having regard to —(a) the risks of money laundering, terrorism financing and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and (b) the size of the pawnbroker’s business.[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024] (4) Where a pawnbroker is a company incorporated in Singapore and has a branch or subsidiary, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, the pawnbroker must develop and implement a group-level programme to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which programme —(a) must be applicable to the pawnbroker’s branches and subsidiaries, whether in Singapore or elsewhere; (b) must include the measures specified under subsection (2); (c) must be appropriate to the business of the pawnbroker’s branches and subsidiaries; (d) must be implemented effectively at the level of the pawnbroker’s branches and subsidiaries; (e) must include policies and procedures for providing and sharing information required for the purposes of customer due diligence measures under Part 2 of the Third Schedule and generally for the management of risks relating to money laundering, terrorism financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024] (f) must include adequate safeguards on the confidentiality and use of information exchanged between the pawnbroker and its branches and subsidiaries.[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024] (5) Where a pawnbroker mentioned in subsection (4) has a branch or subsidiary in a country or territory outside Singapore that has laws for the prevention of money laundering, prevention of terrorism financing or prevention of the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, that differ from those in Singapore —(a) the pawnbroker must require the management of that branch or subsidiary to apply the more stringent set of laws, to the extent that the law of the host country or territory permits; and (b) where that branch or subsidiary is unable to fully apply the more stringent set of laws, the pawnbroker must report this to the Registrar and must, in lieu of paragraph (a), comply with any directions that may be given by the Registrar.[Act 6 of 2024 wef 01/05/2024] (6) A pawnbroker that contravenes subsection (1), (2), (4) or (5) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000.