Like many countries in the world, money laundering and terrorist financing are considered serious crimes in Spain. As part of the fraud crimes, these actions harbor economic, political, and social threats of hiding the elements of the crime by laundering proceeds from illegal activities. The Spanish government has taken various measures to protect the country from these risks and ensure its financial integrity.
AML Laws in Spain
Spain included money laundering as a crime in its penal code in 1988 in order to deal a blow to the drug trade that had been infesting the country. The ever-developing money laundering methods and technologies over time required some changes to be made in the methods of the fight against fraud. To that end, Spain expanded the scope of money laundering crime and increased the penalties with the amendments made in its penal code in 1995 and 2003. The aforementioned amendments expanded the scope of criminal offenses and their penalties.
The regulations were backed by the decrement of Royal Decrees 925/1995 and 54/2005, which included certain obligations to financial institutions, such as the implementation of Know Your Customer (KYC), the detection of suspicious transactions, and keeping customer records for five and six years, for fiscal and mercantile information, respectively.
The Focus on International Collaboration
Several decrees and laws were followed in the following years to clarify the details of AML laws and the fight against fraud as a whole. In the scope of international collaboration, the most important of these laws were Royal Decree 11/2018 and Law 5/2020, which eased the implementation of the Fourth and Fifth European Union (EU) AML Directives (4AMLD and 5AMLD).
Spain continues to develop AML laws and regulations in line with international collaboration through the cooperation between its organizations, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and the EU. The FATF deemed Spain as one of the countries that are outside of having strategic AML deficiencies. With its latest Follow-Up Assessment Report on Spain in 2019, it has been noted that Spain is compliant with 28 and largely compliant with 10 of the FATF 40 Recommendations.
The Financial Regulation
Money laundering laws and regulations in Spain cover banks, investment companies, credit companies, insurance companies, brokerage companies, securities companies, money transfer companies, and payment institutions. These organizations appear to be at high risk for money laundering and terrorist financing. Therefore, these organizations have to meet their anti-money laundering obligations and protect themselves from financial crimes.
While the Bank of Spain supervises the financial environment of Spain, its financial intelligence unit, SEPBLAC, audits these institutions periodically. The regulatory agency imposes administrative fines on those organizations that do not meet their obligations. The fact that a company is on the agenda with financial crimes may cause the company to lose its reputation and customers, which may cause its loss of market share.
AML Solutions for Spain
Since Spain is a member of the FATF and the EU, it has some responsibilities and obligations to meet on an international scale. The FATF and the EU publish recommendations for countries to effectively combat financial crime. Countries should establish and comply on the basis of these recommendations when establishing AML policies and regulations. Spain is working to ensure that AML policies and regulations are compatible with the FATF and the EU.
The Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financial Crimes (CPBC) is Spain's anti-money laundering body. This commission, run by the Ministry of Economy, is working to fight financial crime effectively. If you are an institution under obligation, you must act immediately and comply with AML regulations.
Sanction Scanner provides solutions that help companies meet their AML obligations. With more than two hundred countries' AML data, you can protect your company from financial crimes and ensure compliance with AML regulations with its numerous innovative tools. These tools help companies with various scopes of AML compliance. For instance, AML Name Screening Software can be used for the information tracking of customers. Sanction Screening and monitoring and PEP List Screening and monitoring reinforce this notion by deepening the search for the information.
As well as the emphasis on customers, Sanction Scanner is also aware of the importance of the data on transactions as well. AML Transaction Monitoring Software and Transaction Screening Software reinforce companies’ AML initiatives by performing routine checks.
To ensure their efficiencies, these software and tools are upgraded to the necessities of each customer. To get the best way of ensuring stability and security for your company, contact us or request a demo today.
