New Delhi :
The Reserve Bank of India has instructed banks and other financial institutions to ensure that both cross-border and domestic wire transactions provide complete information about the source and beneficiary.
This directive entails the amendment of instructions in the Master Direction on Know Your Customer (KYC) related to wire transfers, which have been aligned with the relevant recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
As per the revised guidelines of the Master Direction, “accurate, complete, and meaningful” information regarding the originator and beneficiary must be included in all cross-border wire transfers.
For domestic wire transfers, if the originator has an account with the ordering regulated entity (RE), originator and beneficiary information is also required, just like in cross-border wire transfers.
As per the RBI’s guidelines, domestic wire transfers amounting to Rs 50,000 and above, in which the originator is not an account holder of the ordering regulatory entity, must also provide originator and beneficiary information similar to that of cross-border wire transfers.
The financial institution responsible for initiating the wire transfer and transmitting the funds on behalf of the originator is referred to as the “Ordering RE.”
The RBI also mentioned that if law enforcement and/or prosecution agencies, as well as FIU-IND, request for such information with appropriate legal requirements, the REs must provide all wire transaction information.
However, the latest guidelines do not apply to any transfer arising from a transaction that involves purchasing goods or services through a credit card, debit card, or Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI).
The RBI further instructed that any RE acting as an intermediary in a series of wire transfers must ensure that all originator and beneficiary information associated with a wire transfer is stored together with the transfer.
