RI securities firms comply with rules on money-laundering
RI securities firms comply with rules on money-laundering
Dow Jones, Jakarta
The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) said on Monday 70 percent of Indonesia's securities firms are in compliance with new regulations aimed at stamping out money-laundering and financing for terrorist groups.
"Based on our recent monitoring inspection, only about 70 percent of Indonesia's total 183 securities firms comply with (the new regulations)," Bapepam Chairman Herwidayatmo told reporters.
Herwidayatmo didn't name the securities firms that are and aren't in compliance with the new regulations.
"There are no sanctions levied to firms that do not comply with the rules (after the inspections)," Herwidayatmo said.
But he added his office will revoke licenses of firms that continue to fall below certain standards when the regulations come into full effect from July 15.
Last week, about 50 inspectors from Bapepam visited all securities firms to examine the records of every brokerage firm to see whether the firms were in compliance with recently passed "know your customer" regulations.
Those rules are designed to ensure the firms know what kinds of businesses their clients conduct - information that will help authorities spot transactions that could violate money-laundering rules.
Herwidayatmo said last week's inspections were aimed primarily at identifying firms with problems in record-keeping so they can improve, rather than punishing firms that aren't yet in compliance.
The U.S. and other Western nations have long worried about the potential for money laundering and terrorist financing in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population and which the West generally regards as having poorly supervised financial markets.
Last year, Indonesia passed a money-laundering law amid pressure from foreign countries, and particularly the U.S., which views the regulations as a key part of efforts to cut off financing for terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda.
The initiative is part of a government effort to comply with international standards overseen by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, or FATF, which is based in Paris.
FATF, an intergovernmental organization created in 1989, has warned it may compel international financial institutions to impose hefty premiums on all transactions with Indonesian counterparts unless the government strengthens its money- laundering law by September.
Along with insisting that know-your-customer rules be enforced, the FATF also has called on Indonesia to make several other changes to its money-laundering laws.
Among them, it wants a limit on the size of transactions that can be labeled "suspicious" to be removed, as well as stronger protection for whistle-blowers who report money-laundering crimes. The FATF would also like more information sharing between countries.
Indonesia's parliament is considering amendments to provide for those recommendations, Herwidayatmo said.
He expects parliament will ratify amendments before September.