The Investment Dealers Association is reminding its members of their anti-money laundering duties.

IDA members dealing with clients from countries on the FATF’s hit-list, must strictly adhere to the client identification and verification requirements under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and ensure that sales and operational personnel are made aware of the countries and territories which have been identified as non-cooperative.

The Financial Action Task Force has removed the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein and Panama from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. And it has added Egypt, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Myanmar and Nigeria.

The IDA says that although it has objected to draft regulations under the new Proceeds of Crime Act as unduly onerous, it agrees that its provisions should apply to clients in countries without adequate anti-money laundering regimes, such as those on the FATF list of non-cooperative jurisdictions.

The new act also provides the legislative framework for mandatory suspicious transaction reporting. These reporting requirements are to be implemented in the near future. One basis for suspicion under the draft guidelines is that the transaction originates in a country “known or suspected to facilitate money laundering activities.” So the IDA says, dealers will therefore be required to give heightened scrutiny to accounts and transactions from countries on the FATF list.