Politically Exposed Persons : Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector[Personas expuestas políticamente : medidas preventivas para el sector bancario]

The paper is focused on the banking sector, not on other financial and nonfinancial sectors vulnerable to the laundering of corrupt funds. These other sectors may find the recommendations and good practices provided in this paper relevant, but should analyze the findings of this paper in light of their particular circumstances and specific features. The paper includes a number of practical tools to help guide banks, regulators, and other public authorities. The paper is organized into four major parts: the remainder of this part (part one) sets out some of the main observations and trends in politically exposed person (PEPs) compliance and an analysis of the principal reasons for poor compliance and overall ineffectiveness of systems to detect and monitor PEPs. Part two focuses on the implementation of PEP measures by regulatory authorities and banks. Part three reviews the roles of the public authorities that are primarily involved in preventing abuse by corrupt PEPs. These authorities include the regulatory authority, which is responsible for providing guidance to banks and enforcing compliance, as well as the financial intelligence unit (FIU), which has a role in the context of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) on PEPs. Finally, part four considers some of the cross-cutting issues national cooperation, training, and resources that must be addressed by all stakeholders.