Guide To Anti-Money Laundering Policy (AML) At iBlock Trade

Anti-Money Laundering Policy (AML) At iBlock Trade


Last Updated on 25/08/2022
iBlock Investment Consultant Pvt. Ltd., (COMPANY) incorporated under the laws of India having its registered office address at: Suit no-405, 4th floor H-221 Sector -63 Noida, Gautam Budh Nagar, Noida,Uttar Pradesh 201301 which owns and operates the ‘iBlocktrade’ ("iBlocktrade Platform"), hereinafter referred to as ‘iBlocktrade’ or “Company”, which term shall refer to and include its owners, its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, directors, investors, employees, officers, representatives, affiliates, or other related parties.

The terms "We", "Our", "Company" and "Us" refer to the Company, and the terms "User", "You" and "Your" refer to a User of iBlocktrade Platforms.

This is an agreement between iBlocktrade and the User, which is binding on the User. All Users are required to comply with the terms of this agreement at all times, and any instance of non-compliance will result in the termination of such user’s accounts on iBlocktrade platform, and in appropriate reporting of the circumstances of such non-compliance and such termination to the relevant statutory authorities.

Integrity, honesty and ethical business practices are some of the core values of iBlocktrade, and iBlocktrade strongly condemns any and all activities related to terrorism, money laundering, and all other unlawful actions. In order to prevent misuse of the services provided on iBlocktrade platform, Users are required to strictly comply with the terms contained herein, which forms part and parcel of the User Terms of use. Terms not defined herein shall carry the same meaning as in the Terms of use, and in the absence thereof, to general usage and parlance.

What is Money Laundering

Money laundering is criminalized primarily by means of the Prevention of Money laundering Act, 2002 and rules framed under. The provisions of this Act are effective from July 1, 2005.

The Government of India had notified on July 1, 2005, the rules under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) relating to “Maintenance of records of the nature and value of transactions, the procedure and manner of maintaining and time for furnishing information and verification and maintenance of records of the identity of the clients.

The regulations contain detailed provisions on the measures and procedures to be maintained and applied by subject persons, including customer due diligence measures, record keeping procedures and reporting procedures, etc\

Glossary for Anti-Money Laundering (AML)

1. “Applicable law” means all laws in force for the time being within the territory of India including Prevention of money laundering Act 2002 and other rules regulations made under the aforementioned Act from time to time.

2. “Money laundering” (ML) is the process by which criminals attempt to disguise the true origin of the proceeds of their criminal activities by the use of the financial system so that after a series of transactions, the money, its ownership and the income earned from it appear to be legitimate. According to the Financial Action Task Force, (FATF), ML is the processing of criminal proceeds in order to disguise their illegal origin. This process is often achieved by converting the original illegally obtained proceeds from their original form, usually cash, into other forms such as deposits or securities and by transferring them from one financial institution to another using the account of apparently different persons or businesses.

Section 3 of PMLA, describes the offence of ML. Section 3 reads as under: “Whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering.”

3. “Suspicious Transaction” as per – Rule 2(1)(g) of the PMLA Rules Suspicious transaction is a transaction whether or not made in cash which to a person acting in good faith (a) gives rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that it may involve the proceeds of crime; or (b) appears to be made in circumstances of unusual or unjustified complexity; or (c) appears to have no economic rationale or bonafide purpose; or (d) give rise to a reasonable ground of suspicion that it may involve financing of the activities relating to terrorism;

ANTI MONEY LAUNDERING (AML) POLICY IS PART OF OUR TERMS OF USE

This AML Policy is a part of and incorporated within and is to be read along with the User Terms of Use (the "Terms").

POLICY CHANGES

iBlocktrade may change and update this AML Policy from time to time. Such changes may be made without prior notice, but any changes will only apply to activities and information on a going forward, not retroactive basis unless specifically mentioned. Users are encouraged to review this AML Policy whenever they access the Online Platforms.

YOUR OBLIGATIONS

You acknowledge that it is your duty to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions described in this AML Policy and accord your consent to not using the Services and the Online Platforms in any manner which results in committing/attempting to commit any criminal offences. You also agree and consent to any changes made to this Privacy Policy in due course and without notice.

The User must ensure that any personal information and/or Identification Documents submitted by the user belong to the user and are legitimate.

The User must file a fresh proof of address within 6 (six) months of making any changes to the address mentioned as per the ‘proof of address’ submitted by you.

PURPOSE OF THIS POLICY

In order to mitigate its risks relating to money laundering and other illegal activities, iBlocktrade intends to put in place this policy which has the following elements:

1. Customer Acceptance Terms; and
2. Risk Management Procedure; and
3. Customer Verification Procedure; and
4. Transaction Monitoring Terms

CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE TERMS

iBlocktrade may either at the time of opening the User Account, or while undertaking any transactions, or during Periodic Updates, or for any other reason, ensure your compliance with the following:

1.Require that you undergo a verification process during the activation process of your User Account by submitting your Identification Documents and such other details, as mandate (Customer Verification Procedure) of this AML Policy.
2.Require you to declare such other details as may be deemed necessary by the Company to verify your identity, if the Company has reason to believe that you are a person or entity enlisted in the Restricted or fraudulent Lists.
3.Require you to submit such additional information and/or data as may be directed by a competent enforcement authority.
4.Require you to certify that your Linked Bank Account is held only with a scheduled commercial bank compliant with all Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures mandated under the applicable Indian laws.

iBlocktrade may, in its sole discretion, refuse to open any new accounts, terminate existing User Accounts after giving due notice, or refuse to process any transactions on the Online Platforms if it is unable to ensure compliance with any of the aforementioned conditions, either due to noncooperation by the User or due to the details provided by the User being found enlisted on any Restricted or fraudulent Lists or unreliable or unverifiable to iBlocktrade’s satisfaction.

RISK MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE

iBlocktrade may categorize its Users including you into low, medium or high-risk categories, after undertaking an appropriate risk assessment of each User based on the following factors (including without limitation):

1. Sufficiency and adequacy of identification information submitted under (Customer Verification Procedure); or
2. Its social and/or financial status; or
3. Nature of User’s business/vocational activities; or
4. Guidance notes circulated by various governmental and intergovernmental organizations.

You acknowledge that in order to maintain the integrity of the Risk Management Procedure, iBlocktrade will keep your risk categorization and any data related thereto confidential. Users will not be entitled to seek disclosure of your risk categorization. However, iBlocktrade may disclose the User’s risk categorization data to the competent enforcement authority if it finds that a particular User has executed or is likely to execute any Suspicious Transaction.

CUSTOMER VERIFICATION PROCEDURE

iBlocktrade, during activation of User Accounts or while undertaking any transactions or for any other reason, may require for the purposes of verification of any User’s identity, following details:

1.In Case of Individuals – one copy of UIDAI issued Aadhaar card containing their identity and address details; one live webcam selfie photograph; PAN card any other documents pertaining to such individual as may be prescribed by iBlocktrade from time to time;
2.In Case of Companies – one copy each of Certificate of Incorporation; GST Registration Certificate; Corporate PAN Card; Memorandum and Articles of Association; Board resolution authorizing to transact on the Online Platform; Identification Documents containing identification and address details of the individual authorized to transact along with a copy of such authorization document; and any other documents pertaining to such corporate entity as may be prescribed by iBlocktrade from time to time;
3.In case of Proprietorship- one copy each of GST Registration Certificate; KYC of proprietor; Proprietorship Registration Certificate (MSME); and any other documents pertaining to such corporate entity as may be prescribed by iBlocktrade from time to time;
4.In Case of Partnership Firm/Limited Liability Partnership – one copy each of Registration/Incorporation Certificate; GST Registration Certificate; partnership deed; Identification Documents containing identification and address details of the individual authorized to transact along with a copy of such authorization document; Aadhar and PAN card of all partners; and any other documents pertaining to such corporate entity as may be prescribed by iBlocktrade from time to time;

Users must ensure that all copies of aforementioned Identification Documents are duly certified.

For the purposes of verification of any User’s identity, iBlocktrade may rely on appropriate and licensed third-party service providers to authenticate the Identification Documents and other incidental details provided by the User.

If iBlocktrade finds any User information obtained in accordance with the procedure described under this Clause to be inadequate, insufficient, or enlisted on the Restricted or fraudulent Lists, iBlocktrade may in its discretion either refuse or terminate (as the case may be) the registration of such User Account or require verification of such User’s Identification Documents again.

TRANSACTION MONITORING TERMS

All transactions executed and/or attempted to be executed on the Online Platforms are regularly monitored by iBlocktrade, both manually and through use of software-based algorithms, in order to promptly identify and highlight certain kinds of transaction including without limitation, the following kinds of transactions:

1.Withdrawal of High value transactions of amounts greater than INR 50,000/- ( Fifty Thousand Indian Rupee) or its equivalent in any other currency;
2.Cross border transactions (no user can initiate a cross border transaction at iBlocktrade Platform.)
3.Suspicious Transactions.

iBlocktrade may, from time to time, undertake necessary investigation in order to identify and examine transactions inconsistent with any User’s risk profile (determined in accordance with (Risk Management Procedure) above), sophistication, and expected usage pattern.

The extent of monitoring shall depend on various factors including upon each User’s risk profile.

iBlocktrade reserves the right to terminate the User Account, restrict and/or prevent access to Online Platforms, or report to the appropriate enforcement authorities the activities of any User in respect of transactions identified under this Clause (Transaction Monitoring Terms).

MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS

iBlocktrade Platform will maintain and preserve the following information and/or data:

1. Records of all transactions executed on the Online Platforms, for a period of at least 5 (five) years from the date of each transaction. ( As in accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology act,2000 and rules framed under )
2. Records of all transactions identified under (Transaction Monitoring Terms) above for a period of at least 5 (Five) years, including but not limited to the information about the nature, value and parties to such transactions, and their date of remittance. . ( As in accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology act,2000 and rules framed under )
3. Identification records of Users (including but not limited to the Identification Documents submitted pursuant to (Customer Verification Procedure) above), during the subsistence of and for a period of at least 5 (years) years from the date of termination of such User Account. ( As in accordance with the provisions of the Information Technology act, 2002 and rules framed under )

DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS

iBlocktrade may be required and / or directed to cooperate and aid the government and / or law enforcement authorities, police, investigating agencies, or Tribunals and Courts within the territory of India. In such cases, subject to applicable laws with respect to data protection, iBlocktrade shall be entitled to disclose any information about the User that is in its possession or control, including to government or law enforcement officials, police, investigating agencies, Tribunals and Courts within the territory of India.

In particular, iBlocktrade shall be entitled to initiate processes and disclosures, including but not limited to the following circumstances:

1.information pertaining to or in pursuance of claims and legal process (such as summons / warrants);
2.to protect iBlocktrade’s property, rights, and safety and the property, rights, and safety of a third party or the public in general;
3.to identify and stop any activity that iBlocktrade considers illegal, unethical, or legally actionable.
4.iBlocktrade may, if so required under applicable law, disclose the necessary information to Enforcement Directorate or any Indian government departments seeking for such information.

GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

This AML Policy shall be governed by Indian laws, in particular, the Information Technology Act, 2000 and rules framed there under and any amendment, modification, statutory enactment thereto from time to time.

Any dispute that may arise from this Privacy Policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction to the courts of Noida, Uttar Pradesh.