Notice of the People's Bank of China on Strengthening the Client Identification for Anti-money Laundering
(No. 235 [2017] of the People's Bank of China)
Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China (“PBC”); all branches and business management departments of the PBC; all central sub-branches of the PBC in capital cities of provinces (autonomous regions) and sub-provincial cities; China Development Bank; all policy banks, state-owned commercial banks and joint-stock commercial banks; Postal Savings Bank of China; China UnionPay Co., Ltd.; Rural Credit Banks Funds Clearing Center; and Clearing Center for City Commercial Banks:
For the purpose of carrying out the risk-oriented work methods and directing the obligated institutions of anti-money laundering (hereinafter referred to as “obligated institutions”) to further enhance the efficiency of client identification for anti-money laundering, the issue on strengthening the client identification for anti-money laundering is hereby announced as follows:
I. Strengthening the identification of non-natural person clients
An obligated institution shall, in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Client Identification and Preservation of Client Identity Materials and Transaction Records of Financial Institutions (Order No. 2 [2007], PBC, CBRC, CSRC and CIRC), effectively conduct the identification of non-natural person clients, enhance the information transparency of beneficial owners, strengthen risk assessment and categorized management, and prevent the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing caused by complicated equity or control right structure.
(1) An obligated institution shall strengthen the identification of non-natural person clients, and, when establishing or maintaining business relations, take reasonable measures to know the business nature and equity or control right structure of non-natural person clients, and obtain the relevant information on beneficial owners.
(2) An obligated institution shall, in light of the actual circumstances and the relevant information or data obtained from reliable channels and in a reliable manner, identify the beneficial owners of non-natural person clients, and continuously pay attention to information modification of beneficial owners during the existence of business relations.
(3) For the beneficial owner of a non-natural person client, the obligated institution shall conduct in-depth identification level by level until the natural person who has the control right or obtains proceeds is finally identified. The identification standards are as follows:
(a) The beneficial owner of a company shall be identified according to the following standards in sequence, a natural person who directly or indirectly owns more than 25% of the company's stock rights or voting rights, a natural person controlling the company by personnel, financial affairs or any other form, and a senior executive of the company.
(b) The “beneficial owner of a partnership enterprise” means a natural person who owns more than 25% of the rights and interests of the partnership.
(c) The “beneficial owner of the trust” means the trustor, trustee, beneficiary and other natural persons who have ultimate valid control over the trust.
(d) The “beneficial owner of a fund” means a natural person who owns more than 25% equity shares or any other natural person controlling the fund.
For a non-natural person client with a relatively high risk, the obligated institution shall adopt stricter standards to identify the beneficial owner.
(4) An obligated institution shall verify the information on the beneficial owners, which may be conducted by inquiring about non-natural person clients, requiring non-natural person clients to provide certification materials, consulting the disclosed information or authorizing the relevant institution to conduct investigation.
(5) An obligated institution shall register the name, address, ID card or the type, number and valid term of the identity certificate of the beneficial owner of the client.
(6) An obligated institution may, on the basis of sufficiently assessing the risk status of the following non-natural person clients, regard their legal representatives or actual controllers as the beneficial owners:
(a) Individual industrial and commercial households, sole proprietorship enterprises, and professional service institutions without legal person status.
(b) Non-corporate farmers' professional cooperative organizations engaged in agriculture, forestry, fishing and animal husbandry.
The aforesaid standards shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to enterprises and public institutions controlled by the government.
(7) An obligated institution is not required to identify the beneficial owners of the following non-natural person clients:
(a) Party authorities, state authorities, administrative authorities, judicial authorities, military authorities, and political consultative authorities at all levels, the People's Liberation Army, armed police forces, and public institutions governed, mutatis mutandis, by the Civil Servant Law.
(b) International intergovernmental organizations, foreign embassies and consulates, offices and other institutions and organizations of foreign governments in China.
(8) An obligated institution shall, in the process of identifying the beneficial owner, obtain, collect and appropriately retain the following information and materials:
(a) The information on the equities or control right of a non-natural person client, mainly including the registration certificate, certificate document on good standing, partnership agreement, trust agreement, memorandum, the company's bylaws and other documents that may verify the client's identity.
(b) The registration information of the shareholders or members of the board of directors of a non-natural person client, mainly including the lists of the board of directors, the senior management and the shareholders, the number of shares held by each shareholder, and the type of shareholding (including the relevant types of voting rights).
(9) Banking financial institutions shall submit the information on beneficial owners registered and retained to the relevant information database operated and managed by the Credit Information Center of the People's Bank of China. An obligated institution may consult the information on beneficial owners of non-natural person clients in accordance with the relevant provisions. The measures for the registration, consultation, use and confidentiality of information on beneficial owners shall be separately developed by the People's Bank of China.
II. Strengthening the identification of specific natural person clients
When establishing or maintaining business relations with clients, an obligated institution shall effectively conduct the identification of the following specific natural person clients in accordance with the provisions of the Measures for the Administration of Client Identification and Preservation of Client Identity Materials and Transaction Records of Financial Institutions.
(1) For foreign dignitaries, the obligated institution shall, in addition to adopting the normal client identification measures, take the following intensified identification measures:
(a) Establishing an appropriate risk management system to determine whether clients are foreign dignitaries.
(b) Obtaining the approval or authorization of the senior management before establishing (or maintaining existing) business relations.
(c) Having further in-depth understanding of the source of clients' property and funds.
(d) Increasing the frequency and intensity of transaction monitoring during the existence of business relations.
(2) For the senior executives of international organizations, if the obligated institution provides services for them or conducts business at a relatively high risk, it shall take the intensified client identification measures as listed in sub-items (b) to (d) of item (1) of this Article.
(3) The requirements for the identification of the aforesaid specific natural person clients shall also apply to their specific interested parties.
(4) If the beneficial owner of a non-natural person client is any of the aforesaid specific natural person clients, the obligated institution shall take corresponding measures to intensify the identification of the non-natural person client.
III. Strengthening the measures for the identification of clients in specific business relations
An obligated institution shall, based on the risk assessment results of products and businesses, conduct client identification in light of the features of their business relations, and take the client identification work as a basis for effectively preventing money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
(1) For life insurance and property insurance business with investment functions, an obligated institution shall take into full account the risk status of the beneficiary of the insurance policy, and decide whether to take the measure to intensify the identification of the beneficiary. If the beneficiary is a non-natural person client, and the obligated institution considers that its equity or control right is relatively complicated and has relatively high risks, it shall, before repaying the relevant funds, take reasonable measures to obtain the information on the equity and control right structure of the beneficiary of the insurance policy, and strengthen the client identification of the beneficiary under the risk-oriented principle.
Where the beneficiary or the beneficial owner of the insurance policy is a specific natural person listed in Article 2 and the obligated institution determines that the insurance policy is at a high-risk grade, the obligated institution shall obtain the approval of the senior management before repaying the relevant funds, and conduct intensified examination of the insurance business relations as a whole. If the obligated institution fails to complete the aforesaid measures, the suspicious transaction report shall be submitted on the basis of reasonable suspicion.
(2) Where an obligated institution fails to complete client identification after taking effective measures, or if it exceeds the risk management capability of the institution after appraisal, it shall not establish any business relation or conduct any transaction with the client. If it has established business relations, it shall suspend the transaction and consider submitting a suspicious transaction report, and may terminate the business relations when necessary.
When the obligated institution suspects that the transaction is related to money laundering or terrorist financing, but it will be impossible to be confidential if it conducts client identification once again or on a continuous basis, it may terminate the identification measure, and shall submit the suspicious transaction report.
(3) For a client from a high-risk country or region designated by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), the Asian-Pacific Group on Anti-Money Laundering (APG), the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) or any other international anti-money laundering organization, the obligated institution shall, in light of its risk status, take corresponding measures to intensify the identification.
(4) Where an obligated institution authorizes an overseas third party institution to conduct client identification, it shall fully assess the risk status of the country or region where the third party institution is located, and take it as the basis for client identification, risk assessment and categorized management.
Where an obligated institution and the overseas third-party institution it authorizes belong to the same financial group, and the client identification and other anti-money laundering internal control measures adopted at the group level can effectively reduce the risk level of the overseas country or region, the obligated institution is not required to include the overseas risk status in the category of client identification, risk assessment and categorized management.
(5) For the purpose of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing requirements, a group (or company) shall establish an internal information sharing system and procedures, and specify information security and confidentiality requirements. The regulatory compliance, auditing and anti-money laundering departments of the group (or company) may legally require branch offices and affiliates to provide client, account and trading information and other relevant information.
(6) Banking financial institutions shall comply with the Measures for the Administration of Client Identification and Preservation of Client Identity Materials and Transaction Records of Financial Institutions and other relevant rules and regulations, and, in light of the relevant requirements of the Financial Action Task Force and the Wolfsburg Group on the business of agency banks, strictly perform the obligation of client identification.
IV. Miscellaneous
(1) An obligated institution shall further improve the internal control rules and operating specifications for the identification of clients, and retain the aforesaid identification work records and identity materials obtained in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Client Identification and Preservation of Client Identity Materials and Transaction Records of Financial Institutions, and effectively perform the obligation of protecting individual financial information.
(2) An obligated institution shall fully explain to its clients the identification obligation that it needs to perform, and shall not explicitly or implicitly advise or help any client to conceal any identity information.
(3) An obligated institution shall, in accordance with the requirements of this Notice, effectively conduct the identification of clients with whom it has established new business relations. At the same time, it shall organize the inspection of existing clients in an orderly manner, and complete the identification of existing clients before June 30, 2018.
(4) For the purpose of this Notice, the International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation: the FATF Recommendations and the relevant international standards shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the determination of foreign dignitaries and senior executives of international organizations.
This Notice shall come into force on the date of issuance, unless it is otherwise provided for by any relevant law, administrative regulation or rule.
People's Bank of China

October 20, 2017

中国人民银行关于加强反洗钱客户身份识别有关工作的通知
（银发[2017]235号）
中国人民银行上海总部，各分行、营业管理部，各省会（首府）城市中心支行、各副省级城市中心支行；国家开发银行、各政策性银行、国有商业银行、股份制商业银行，中国邮政储蓄银行，中国银联，农信银资金清算中心，城市商业银行资金清算中心：
为落实风险为本工作方法，指导反洗钱义务机构（以下简称义务机构）进一步提高反洗钱客户身份识别工作的有效性，现就加强反洗钱客户身份识别有关工作通知如下：
一、加强对非自然人客户的身份识别
义务机构应当按照《金融机构客户身份识别和客户身份资料及交易记录保存管理办法》（中国人民银行 中国银行监督管理委员会中国证券监督管理委员会中国保险监督管理委员会令[2007]第2号发布）的规定，有效开展非自然人客户的身份识别，提高受益所有人信息透明度，加强风险评估和分类管理，防范复杂股权或者控制权结构导致的洗钱和恐怖融资风险。
（一）义务机构应当加强对非自然人客户的身份识别，在建立或者维持业务关系时，采取合理措施了解非自然人客户的业务性质与股权或者控制权结构，了解相关的受益所有人信息。
（二）义务机构应当根据实际情况以及从可靠途径、以可靠方式获取的相关信息或者数据，识别非自然人客户的受益所有人，并在业务关系存续期间，持续关注受益所有人信息变更情况。
（三）对非自然人客户受益所有人的追溯，义务机构应当逐层深入并最终明确为掌握控制权或者获取收益的自然人，判定标准如下：
1.公司的受益所有人应当按照以下标准依次判定：直接或者间接拥有超过25%公司股权或者表决权的自然人；通过人事、财务等其他方式对公司进行控制的自然人；公司的高级管理人员。
2.合伙企业的受益所有人是指拥有超过25%合伙权益的自然人。
3.信托的受益所有人是指信托的委托人、受托人、受益人以及其他对信托实施最终有效控制的自然人。
4.基金的受益所有人是指拥有超过25%权益份额或者其他对基金进行控制的自然人。
对风险较高的非自然人客户，义务机构应当采取更严格的标准判定其受益所有人。
（四）义务机构应当核实受益所有人信息，并可以通过询问非自然人客户，要求非自然人客户提供证明材料、查询公开信息、委托有关机构调查等方式进行。
（五）义务机构应当登记客户受益所有人的姓名、地址、身份证或者身份证证明文件的种类、号码和有效期限。
（六）义务机构在充分评估下述非自然人客户风险状况基础上，可以将其法定代表人或者实际控制人视同为受益所有人：
1.个体工商户、个人独资企业、不具备法人资格的专业服务机构。
2.经营农林渔牧产业的非公司制农民专业合作组织。
对于受政府控制的企事业单位，参照上述标准执行。
（七）义务机构可以不识别下述非自然人客户的受益所有人：
1.各级党的机关、国家权力机关、行政机关、司法机关、军事机关、人民政协机关和人民解放军、武警部队、参照公务员法管理的事业单位。
2.政府间国际组织、外国政府驻华使领馆及办事处等机构及组织。
（八）义务机构应当在识别受益所有人的过程中，了解、收集并妥善保存以下信息和资料：
1.非自然人客户股权或者控制权的相关信息，主要包括：注册证书、存续证明文件、合伙协议、信托协议、备忘录、公司章程以及其他可以验证客户身份的文件。
2.非自然人客户股东或者董事会成员登记信息，主要包括：董事会、高级管理层和股东名单、各股东持股数量以及持股类型（包含相关的投票权类型）等。
（九）银行业金融机构应当将登记保存的受益所有人信息报送中国人民银行征信中心运营管理的相关信息数据库。义务机构可以按照相关规定查询非自然人客户的受益所有人信息。受益所有人信息登记、查询、使用及保密办法，由中国人民银行另行制定。
二、加强对特定自然人客户的身份识别
义务机构在与客户建立或者维持业务关系时，对下列特定自然人客户，应当按照《金融机构客户身份识别和客户身份资料及交易记录保存管理办法》的规定，有效开展身份识别。
（一）对于外国政要，义务机构除采取正常的客户身份识别措施外，还应当采取以下强化的身份识别措施：
1.建立适当的风险管理系统，确定客户是否为外国政要。
2.建立（或者维持现有）业务关系前，获得高级管理层的批准或者授权。
3.进一步深入了解客户财产和资金来源。
4.在业务关系持续期间提高交易监测的频率和强度。
（二）对于国际组织的高级管理人员，义务机构为其提供服务或者办理业务出现较高风险时，应当采取本条第一项第2目至第4目所列强化的客户身份识别措施。
（三）上述特定自然人客户身份识别的要求，同样适用于其特定关系人。
（四）如果非自然人客户的受益所有人为上述特定自然人客户，义务机构应当对该非自然人客户采取相应的强化身份识别措施。
三、加强特定业务关系中客户的身份识别措施
义务机构应当根据产品、业务的风险评估结果，结合业务关系特点开展客户身份识别，将客户身份识别工作作为有效防范洗钱和恐怖融资风险的基础。
（一）对于寿险和具有投资功能的财产险业务，义务机构应当充分考虑保单受益人的风险状况，决定是否对受益人开展强化的身份识别措施。受益人为非自然人客户，义务机构认为其股权或者控制权较复杂且有较高风险的，应当在偿付相关资金前，采取合理措施了解保单受益人的股权和控制权结构，并按照风险为本原则，强化对受益人的客户身份识别。
如保单受益人或者其受益所有人为第二条所列的特定自然人，且义务机构认定其属于高风险等级的，义务机构应当在偿付相关资金前获得高级管理层批准，并对整个保险业务关系进行强化审查，如果义务机构无法完成上述措施，则应当在合理怀疑基础上提交可疑交易报告。
（二）义务机构采取有效措施仍无法进行客户身份识别的，或者经过评估超过本机构风险管理能力的，不得与客户建立业务关系或者进行交易；已建立业务关系的，应当中止交易并考虑提交可疑交易报告，必要时可终止业务关系。
义务机构怀疑交易与洗钱或者恐怖融资有关，但重新或者持续识别客户身份将无法避免泄密时，可疑终止身份识别措施，并提交可疑交易报告。
（三）对来自金融行动特别工作组（FATF）、亚太反洗钱组织（APG）、欧亚反洗钱和反恐怖融资组织（EAG）等国际反洗钱组织指定高风险国家或者地区的客户，义务机构应当根据其风险状况，采取相应的强化身份识别措施。
（四）义务机构委托境外第三方机构开展客户身份识别的，应当充分评估 该机构所在国家或者地区的风险状况，并将其作为对客户身份识别、风险评估 和分类管理的基础。

当义务机构与委托的境外第三方机构属于同一金融集团，且集团层面采取 的客户身份识别等反洗钱内部控制措施能有效降低境外国家或者地区的风险水 平，则义务机构可以不将境外的风险状况纳入对客户身份识别、风险评估和分 类管理的范畴。
（五）出于反洗钱和反恐怖融资需要，集团（公司）应当建立内部信息共享制度和程序，明确信息安全和保密要求。集团（公司）合规、审计和反洗钱部门可以依法要求分支机构和附属机构提供客户、账户、交易信息及其他相关信息。
（六）银行业金融机构应当遵守《金融机构客户身份识别和客户身份资料及交易记录保存管理办法》等规章制度，同时参照金融行动特别工作组、沃尔夫斯堡集团关于代理行业务的相关要求，严格履行带来行业务的身份识别义务。
四、其他事项
（一）义务机构应当进一步完善客户身份识别的内部控制制度和操作规范，并按照《金融机构客户身份识别和客户身份资料及交易记录保存管理办法》的规定保存上述身份识别工作记录和获取的身份资料，切实履行个人金融信息保护义务。
（二）义务机构应当向客户充分说明本机构需履行的身份识别义务，不得明示、暗示或者帮助客户隐匿身份信息。
（三）义务机构应当按照本通知要求，对新建立业务关系客户有效开展客户身份识别。同时，有序对存量客户组织排查，于2018年6月30日前完成存量客户的身份识别工作。
（四）本通知所称外国政要、国际组织的高级管理人员，参照《打击洗钱、恐怖融资与扩散融资的国际标准：FATF建议》及有关国际标准确定。
本通知自发布之日起实施。有关法律、行政法规、规章另有规定的从其规定。
中国人民银行
2017年10月20日