Latest Payments News: Mexico Tightens Rules On Information Exchange With Foreign Entities, and more

Catch up on six of the stories our payments compliance analysts have covered lately, and stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Mexico Tightens Rules On Information Exchange With Foreign Entities

Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has issued a new resolution modifying the official format for exchanging customer and user information with foreign financial institutions.

Effective from July 10, 2024, this resolution aims to enhance compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations 18 and 40, thereby broadening the scope of information that credit institutions can exchange.

This update amends the March 30, 2015 resolution with several key changes.

For example, entities must now use a digital format for information exchange, available on the FIU's website, and submit a copy of the exchanged information to the FIU following the new procedures in Article 4.

Additionally, entities can modify submitted information within 30 days through report retransmission.

The new digital formats will be accessible from July 10, 2024, and entities are required to start using these forms 30 days subsequent to this.

It's Been A Good Year For Financial Inclusion, Says RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published its latest Financial Inclusion (FI) Index, showing steady growth in the availability and accessibility of a range of financial services.

The FI Index rose from 60.1 in March 2023 to 64.2 — its highest reading yet — in March this year.

The RBI said the index saw strong results across all parameters, with "Usage" being the main driver of growth.

In operation since 2021, the index covers the banking, investment, insurance, postal and pension sectors, and scores are quantified through consultation with sector regulators.

The index comprises three broad parameters, namely Access (35 percent), Usage (45 percent), and Quality (20 percent), covering a base of 97 indicators.

“The Index is responsive to ease of access, availability and usage of services, and quality of services,” said the RBI.

Canada Proposes Strengthened Regulations For Money Services Businesses

Canada's Department of Finance has introduced proposed amendments to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) aimed at enhancing the regulatory framework for money services businesses (MSBs).

This initiative follows commitments made by the federal government in the 2023 budget to tighten anti-money laundering (AML) legislation.

Under the existing PCMLTFA, both foreign and domestic MSBs are required to register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and renew their registration biennially.

Foreign MSBs currently need to submit criminal record checks for key personnel, including CEOs, presidents, directors and any significant stakeholders. However, under the proposed amendments, this requirement would also be extended to domestic MSBs.

Additionally, the new regulations would mandate that MSBs conduct and submit criminal record checks for their agents during registration and re-registration.

Entities acting as agents would also need to perform checks on their own key personnel and submit these to FINTRAC every two years, and all MSBs would be required to retain these records for five years.

The Department of Finance is inviting public comments on these proposed amendments until August 5, 2024.

BNP Paribas Fined €3m For 'Severe' AML Failures In Luxembourg

The Luxembourg subsidiary of BNP Paribas has been issued a €3m administrative penalty for “severe” non-compliance of the state’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) rules.

Between May and November 2021, Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) conducted an inspection of the bank to assess its internal and governance framework in relation to a group of related clients.

During the inspection, the CSSF identified “deficient” enhanced due diligence checks on source of funds and source of wealth among the group of clients, despite their higher AML risk.

The regulator also found that the bank did not collect “complete, consistent and duly documented information” on the clients.

The fine was mitigated by the bank’s “full cooperation” with the CSSF during the investigation, and its introduction of an action plan to remedy the AML weaknesses identified.

Visa, Mastercard Extend EU Antitrust Commitments On Interchange Fees

Visa and Mastercard have voluntarily extended their antitrust commitments on inter-regional interchange fees beyond November 2024.

The European Commission, which made these commitments legally binding in April 2019, has acknowledged this decision.

Originally, the companies agreed to reduce these fees by an average of 40 percent for payments within the European Economic Area (EEA) using consumer cards issued outside the region.

Under the extended commitment, the caps on interchange fees will remain in place for another five years, until November 2029. The fees for card-present (offline) transactions will stay capped at 0.2 percent for debit cards and 0.3 percent for credit cards.

For card-not-present (online) transactions, the caps will remain at 1.15 percent for debit cards and 1.5 percent for credit cards.

"At this stage, the commission has no indications that the market has substantially changed and that the caps agreed in 2019 would not be appropriate anymore," the commission said in a statement.

However, the commission added that the voluntary undertakings by Visa and Mastercard do not prevent it from conducting investigations or opening proceedings should it "obtain concrete evidence showing that the current caps would not be appropriate anymore".

Iran, Russia Complete Stage One Of Payment System Linkage

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has announced that Iranians will soon be able to use Russia’s MIR card payment system to spend and withdraw cash in Russia.

Mohammad-Reza Farzin, CBI governor, said the linkage with Russia’s MIR network is expected to go live next month.

As quoted by local media, Farzin made the announcement while in St Petersburg this weekend for the Financial Congress of the Bank of Russia.

He added that stage two of the partnership will see Iran’s SHETAB card network opened up to Russian nationals in Iran.

In stage three, SHETAB card holders will be able to spend at point of sale (POS) terminals in Russia.

The two countries also signed an agreement on the use of national currencies to facilitate bilateral trade.

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