Federal Office of Private Insurance FOPI
Federal Office of Private Insurance FOPI
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Revision of the FOPI Ordinance on Measures to Combat Money Laundering (MLO FOPI)
The Federal Office of Private Insurance FOPI has revised the Ordinance of 30 August 1999 on Combating Money Laundering (MLO). The revised FOPI ordinance on measures to combat money laundering (MLO FOPI) entered into force on 1 January 2007.
The revision takes into account the recommendations formulated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its 2005 country evaluation on combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
At the same time, the revision was used to adjust the terminology to the new Insurance Supervision Act (ISA) and to harmonise the title of the Ordinance (now MLO FOPI) with the money laundering ordinances of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission (MLO SFBC) and the Anti-Money Laundering Control Authority (MLO AMLCA).
The revision mainly resulted in the following changes:
- Expansion of the clarification requirements with respect to politically exposed persons as well as links with terrorist or criminal organisations;
- Systematic risk monitoring of the thresholds required for identification of the contracting party and of business relationships with higher risks;
- Easing of the requirements on documents with probative value for identification of the contracting party;
- Company-external inspection of compliance with due diligence obligations.
Regulations must be adjusted in 2007
The amendments to the ordinance entered into force on 1 January 2007. A transitional period of one year has been granted to insurance undertakings for adjusting to the new provisions. This adjustment period will allow the Self-Regulation Organisation of the Swiss Insurance Association (SRO-SIA), which most life insurance undertakings operating in Switzerland have joined, to adjust its regulations to the legal foundations over the course of 2007. The amendments to the regulations must be approved by FOPI before the end of 2007. Moreover, FOPI plans to explain the new provisions to the life insurance undertakings directly supervised by FOPI in the context of a presentation.
As at the time of entry into force of the Ordinance, the Parliament had not yet considered the message of the Federal Council concerning the Federal Law on Financial Market Supervision (FINMA Act). Therefore the effects of integrated financial market supervision on anti-money laundering were unclear at the time, which is why they must be included in a later revision where necessary.
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