The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) issued a circular on August 12, 2024, updating insurers on changes to the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005. These amendments, detailed in Gazette Notification No. GSR 419 (E) dated July 19, 2024, impact the Master Guidelines on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT). The updated guidelines stipulate that insurers must now follow the procedures specified in Rule 9(1C) of the PML Rules for KYC compliance. Key changes include the removal of the previous requirement for customer-submitted KYC records, and the introduction of new steps for managing and updating KYC information. Insurers are required to submit updated KYC data to the Central KYC Registry (CKYCR) and retrieve any updates from the CKYCR as needed. This update mandates that insurers implement these changes promptly, as outlined in paragraph 1.2 of the Master Guidelines. A copy of the gazette notification is provided for reference, and insurers are advised to align their practices with the revised rules to ensure compliance.
INSURANCE REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF INDIA
Circular Ref: IRDAI/IID/CIR/MISC/112/8/2024 Date: 12th August 2024
Re: Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Amendment Rules, 2024
Attention is drawn to amendments effected to Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005 (PML Rules) vide gazette notification no. GSR 419 (E) dated 19th July 2024.
2. Attention is also drawn to Clause No. 12 of Master Guidelines on AML/CFT issued by the Authority vide ref: IRDAI/IID/GDL/MISC/160/8/2022 dated 1st August 2022 where, inter alia insurers were already mandated to refer Central KYC Registry (the CKYCR) for retrieving the KYC records without asking the customer to submit KYC records again.
3. Consequent to the amendments made to the PML rules, the following modifications are effected to the Master Guidelines dated 1st August, 2022:
3.1. The para 12.2 shall be substituted as under.
“12.2 As part of complying with KYC norms, the Insurers shall adopt the procedure specified in Rule 9 (1C) of PML Rules.”
3.2. The para 12.3 shall be omitted.
3.3 After para 12.9, the following paras shall be inserted.
“12.10 Where additional or updated KYC information is obtained from a client under Rule 9(1C) of PML Rules, Insurers shall furnish the updated information to the CKYCR as per Rule 9(1D).
12.11 If an update in the KYC record of an existing client is informed by the CKYCR, the Insurers shall retrieve the updated KYC records from the CKYCR and update the KYC record maintained by it.”
4. Further, insurers shall take note of the amendments notified to PML Rules vide above mentioned gazette notification dated 19th July, 2024 and take necessary steps to implement the same in terms of para 1.2 of the Master Guidelines.
5. The copy of the gazette notification is attached for ready reference.
Sd/-
DVS Ramesh
Chief General Manager
Insurance Inclusion and Development Dept.
