On January 15, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued final guidance regarding anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) risk management. http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs275.pdf

The Committee states that the guidelines are consistent with and supplement the 2012International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation issued by the Financial Action Task Force.  http://www.fatf-gafi.org/topics/fatfrecommendations/documents/internationalstandardsoncombatingmoneylaunderingandthefinancingofterrorismproliferation-thefatfrecommendations.html

The guidelines supersede two previously-issued Basel Committee publications: Customer

1. due diligence for banks (October 2001) http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs85.htm
2. and
3. Consolidated KYC management (October 2004). http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs110.htm

The final guidelines detail the “essential elements” of sound AML/CTF risk management, including those related to

1. assessing and understanding risks;
2. customer acceptance policies;
3. customer and beneficial owner identification;
4. ongoing monitoring;
5. information management and record keeping; and
6. reporting suspicious transactions and asset freezing.

The guidelines also address AML/CTF in the group-wide and cross-border context, and outlines expectations for banking supervisors.