General
The supervision process for Bureaux de Change and Money Transmission Businesses is designed to monitor the effectiveness of the measures adopted by such firms to prevent money laundering and to combat the financing of terrorism.
Governance and Systems
Firms should have appropriate corporate governance in place. Firms should also have systems and policies in place to mitigate risk and monitor compliance with their internal policies.
Fitness & Probity
A sound and effective fit and proper test is a critical component of the regulatory regime. To ensure the proper discharge of their responsibilities, it is important that Directors and Managers have the skills to manage a firm.
“Fitness” requires that a person appointed as a Director or Manager has the necessary qualifications, skills and experience to perform the duties of that position. “Probity” requires that a person is honest, fair and ethical.
Before a new Director or Senior Manager is appointed they must complete an Individual Questionnaire (IQ) which should be endorsed by the proposing Bureau de Change/Money Transmission Business before submission for approval to the Financial Regulator. View our Fit and Proper Requirements for guidelines on approval of persons.
Supervisory Process
Our supervisory process is carried out by way of:
- Regular correspondence and engagement with firms under our supervision
- Inspections
Consumer Protection
The activities of bureaux de change and money transmitters are monitored by means of mystery shopping exercises.
Approval of Charges
Under current legislation, banks, building societies, bureaux de change/money transmitters and other entities must make a submission to the Financial Regulator if they wish to introduce or increase charges in respect of a service such as:
- making and receiving payments
- providing foreign exchange facilities
- providing and granting credit
- maintaining and administrating transactions accounts
The Financial Regulator reviews these submissions and either approves the charge in full, accepts the proposal but at lower levels requested by the entity or rejects the proposal. The Financial Regulator assesses each submission based on the following criteria which are set down in legislation:
- the promotion of fair competition;
- the impact new charges or increases in existing charges will have on customers;
- how the Bureaux de Change/Money Transmission Business justifies its proposed new charges or increase in existing charges; and
- a firm passing any costs on to its customers.