Prevention the Access of Illegal Capitals to the Banking System Using a Mechanism for Customer Identification

One of the main challenges facing the financial sector is undoubtedly anti-money laundering. The banking institutions may well be used, against their will, as mediators in the transfer and storage of money acquired as a result of criminal acts. Intentional or unintentional attraction and release into circulation of money from dubious sources could destabilize the financial condition of the bank and restrict its independence. Everyday banking increasingly integrates mechanisms to combat money laundering, as one of the most important preventive practices is the client identification. In addition, more and more national and supranational regulators require as a prerequisite for the conduct of banking business the establishment and implementation of reliable customer identification mechanisms. This article examines the nature, complexity and specific features of the customer identification as mechanism for prevention the access of illegally acquired capitals to the banking system. There are clarified the legally regulated procedures for initial customer identification and there are proposed legislative and organizational measures for optimization the identification practices by the banking institutions.