When providing its services, the Bank applies the rules, principles, procedures and control measures when combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which result from the following legislation:

• Act No. 483/2001 Coll., on banks – this Act lays down the conditions for the performance of the bank's activities; 
• Act No. 297/2008 Coll., on protection against money laundering and terrorist financing (hereinafter referred to as “Act No. 297/2008”); • Act No. 289/2016 Coll., on the implementation of international sanctions. 

International sanctions represent a set of restrictive measures used by the international community (UN, EU) as a tool to maintain or restore international peace and security, to protect fundamental human rights and to fight terrorism. In this respect, the Bank is obliged to comply with restrictions or prohibitions on the provision of any benefits to entities subject to international sanctions, the conclusion of transactions with them, including foreign-currency transactions, transfers of funds, etc. In these cases, the Bank is obliged to refuse to enter into a business relationship or to terminate the business relationship, if any, or refuse to carry out a particular transaction. These measures aim to prevent and detect money laundering and financing of terrorism. We have selected for you some of the obligations imposed on us by law and with regard to which our RM may contact you in relation to identification or update of KYC. 

The obligation to identify the customer is based on Article 7 “Identification” of Act No. 297/2008. Every customer who enters into a contractual relationship with the Bank has this obligation to comply with the regular check of the validity and completeness of the data. 

Requirements according to the types of entities:

• Natural person (non-entrepreneur) – name, surname, birth certificate number or date of birth, provided no birth certificate number has been assigned, permanent or other residence address, nationality, and type and number of identity document. 
• Natural person – entrepreneur – identical data as that of a natural person (non-entrepreneur) + the ascertainment of the address of the place of business, ID No. – if assigned, designation of the official register or other official records where this entrepreneur is registered, and the number of the registration in the register or records.  
• Legal entity or trust - the ascertainment of name, registered office, ID No., designation of the official register or other official records where the legal entity or trust is registered, and the number of the registration in the register or records, and the identification of the natural person authorised to act on behalf of the legal entity or trust. 

Except for the exceptions defined by law, the identification or its verification must be performed in the physical presence of the customer, whereas during identification, a natural person shall submit an identity document and a legal entity a document proving its existence. The Bank is entitled to make copies/scans of documents submitted in the identification, even without the consent of the persons concerned (Article 19(1) of Act No. 297/2008).

The Bank is obliged to perform customer due diligence under Article 10 of Act No. 297/2008 in order to ascertain and record the data necessary to assess the possible risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.

Depending on the type of entity and besides identification and the verification of the identification, the Bank is obliged to perform customer due diligence to the following extent: 

• identifying the beneficial owner (hereinafter referred to as the “beneficial owner”) and taking adequate measures to verify his identification including the measures to determine the ownership and control structure of the customer that is a legal entity or trust; in identifying the beneficial owner, the Bank must not rely exclusively on the data obtained from the register of legal entities, entrepreneurs and public authorities, 
• obtaining information on the purpose and intended nature of the transaction or business relationship, 
• the ascertainment whether the customer or beneficial owner of the customer is a politically exposed person or sanctioned person, 
• depending on the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, the determination of the origin of funds or property used in the transaction or business relationship, 
• the ascertainment whether the customer acts in their own name, 
• conducting of ongoing monitoring of the business relationship including the review of particular transactions carried out throughout the duration of the business relationship in order to find out whether the transactions being carried out are consistent with Bank’s knowledge of the customer, the customer’s business profile and summary of possible risks connected with the customer, and the assurance of updating of the documents, data or information on the customer available to the Bank. 

Under Article 10(5) of the quoted Act, the customer is obliged to provide the bank with information and documents necessary for customer due diligence or for the identification and verification of the identification, including the proof of origin of assets and funds used within the customer’s transaction, as well as funds credited to the customer’s account.

Under Article 15 of Act No. 297/2008, the Bank is obliged to refuse the conclusion of a business relationship, terminate a business relationship or refuse to carry out a particular transaction, if: - the Bank cannot carry out customer due diligence within the scope pursuant to Article 10 (1) (a) to (e) or - the customer refuses to prove in whose name they act. 

A beneficial owner is defined in Article 6a “Beneficial Owner”.

The obligation to take measures to determine the ownership and control structure of the customer is imposed on the Bank in Article 10(1)(b) of Act No. 297/2008. When performing enhanced due diligence according to Article 12 of Act No. 297/2008, as part of the implemented measures, the Bank also ascertains further information for the correct assessment and evaluation of risk – one of them is the determination of the ownership structure exceeding the limit of 10%. 

For the purposes of this Act, the identification of a beneficial owner means the ascertainment of name, surname, birth certificate number or date of birth, if no birth certificate number has been assigned, permanent or other residence address and nationality.

In case of legal entities and trusts, as mentioned above, the Bank is obliged to ascertain information about the customer's ownership and control structure – its intermediate shareholders, including the shares in per cent. An intermediate shareholder shall mean a legal entity that owns or controls a share of at least 25% in the ownership structure between the customer and its beneficial owner.

For these legal entities, the Bank is obliged to ascertain the following data:

• name of the legal entity, 
• ID No., 
• registered office address. 

The term first shareholder is used by the Bank to identify the first shareholder in the customer’s ownership structure. Additionally, as regards first shareholders, the Bank also ascertains the identification data of the statutory body (natural person – for the scope, see above as with the customer). 

A PEP is defined in Article 6 “Politically Exposed Person”.

As regards customers, the Bank is at any time during the business relationship obliged to ascertain information on the origin of assets and funds used in the transaction or business relationship.

• Source of wealth – information about the origin of the customer's total assets / wealth and its volume – it can be evidenced, for example, by financial statements, annual report, merger / acquisition document, etc. 
• Source of funds – documents the specific origin of funds used in a given transaction – e.g., business, company profit, dividends, etc. 

• USA PATRIOT Act Certification 
• The Wolfsberg Group Anti-Money Laundering Questionnaire
• AML Program

Article 6 Politically exposed person

(1) For the purposes of this Act, a politically exposed person shall mean a natural person who is or has been entrusted with a prominent public function.

(2) A prominent public function shall mean

a) a head of state, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister, head of central body of state administration, state secretary or similar deputy minister,

b) a member of Parliament,

c) a judge of the supreme court, judge of the constitutional court or other judicial bodies of higher instance, against the decision of which no appeal may be lodged, except in special cases, Chairman of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, Vice-Chairman of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, Chairman of the Special Criminal Court, ViceChairman of the Special Criminal Court, Chairman of the Regional Court, Vice-Chairman of the Regional Court, Chairman of the District Court or Vice-Chairman of the District Court,

d) a member of the court of auditors or of the central bank board,

e) an ambassador, chargé d’affaires,

f) a high-ranking officer in the armed forces, armed corps or armed security corps,

g) a member of the managing body, supervisory body or audit body of a state enterprise or a state-owned company;

h) the Prosecutor General, the Deputy Prosecutor General, the Special Prosecutor, the Deputy Special Prosecutor, the Regional Prosecutor, the Deputy Regional Prosecutor, the District Prosecutor or the Deputy District Prosecutor,

i) a person in another similar function of national or regional significance or another similar function performed in the institutions of the European Union or in international organisations,

j) a member of the statutory body of a political party or political movement.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, a politically exposed person shall also mean a natural person who is

a) the spouse or a person equivalent to a status of the spouse of the person referred to in paragraph 1,

b) the child, son-in law or daughter-in law of a person referred to in paragraph 1 or a person having a status similar to that of son-in law or daughter-in law of a person referred to in paragraph 1, or

c) the parent of the person referred to in paragraph 1.

(4) For the purposes of this Act, a politically exposed person shall also mean a natural person known to be the beneficial owner of the same customer or to be otherwise in control of the same customer, as a person referred to in paragraph 1 or running a business together with the person referred to in paragraph 1, or the customer who has been established in favour of the person referred to in paragraph 1. 

Article 6a Beneficial owner

(1) Beneficial owner means each natural person who factually owns or controls the legal entity, natural person - entrepreneur or trust, and each natural person in favour of whom a transaction or activity is being conducted by these entities; the beneficial owners shall include in particular,

a) in the case of a legal entity, which is neither a trust nor an issuer of securities listed on a regulated market that is subject to disclosure requirements pursuant to a special regulation, an equivalent legal regulation of a Member State of the European Union or another State which is party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (hereinafter referred to as the “Member State”) or equivalent international standards, the natural person who

1. owns or controls a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership or control over at least 25% of the shares or voting rights in that legal entity, including through bearer share holdings,

2. has the right to appoint, otherwise determine or remove the statutory body, managing body, supervisory body or audit body in the legal entity or any member of these,

3. controls the legal entity in other way than mentioned in Points 1 and 2,

4. is the beneficiary of 25 % or more of the economic benefits of the business of the legal entity or other activities of the legal entity,

b) in the case of a natural person – entrepreneur, the natural person who is the beneficiary of 25 % or more of the economic benefits of the business of the natural person – entrepreneur or other activities of the natural person – entrepreneur,

c) in the case of the trust, the natural person who

1. is the founder or establisher of the trust; if a legal entity is the founder or establisher, the natural person according to letter (a),

2. has the right to appoint, otherwise determine or remove the statutory body, managing body, supervisory body or audit body in the trust or any member of these or is a member of the body having the right to appoint, otherwise determine or remove these bodies or a member of these,

3. is the statutory body, managing body, supervisory body, audit body or a member of these bodies,

4. is the beneficiary of 25 % or more of the resources provided by the trust if future beneficiaries of these resources have been specified; if future beneficiaries of the resources of the trust have not been specified, the beneficial owner shall mean the circle of persons having significant benefit from the foundation or operation of the trust.

(2) If no natural person meets the criteria listed in paragraph 1 (a), members of top management shall be considered the beneficial owner of the entity; member of top management means a statutory body or members of the statutory body.

(3) The natural person, who does not meet the criteria pursuant to paragraph 1 (a), (b) or (c) Points 2 and 4 themselves, however, along with other person acting with them in conformity or in joint procedure, meets at least some of these criteria, is also the beneficial owner.

Article 7 Identification

(1) For the purpose of this Act, identification shall mean

a) in the case of a natural person, unless paragraph 3 provides for otherwise, the ascertainment of name, surname, birth certificate number or date of birth, if no birth certificate number has been assigned, permanent or other residence address, nationality, type and number of identity document; in the case of a natural person - entrepreneur, also the ascertainment of place of business, identification number if assigned, designation of the official register or other official records where the entrepreneur is registered, and the number of the registration in the register or records,

b) in the case of a legal entity or trust, the ascertainment of name, registered office, identification number, designation of the official register or other official records where the legal entity or trust is registered, and the number of the registration in the register or records, and the identification of the natural person authorised to act on behalf of the legal entity or trust,

(2) According to the risk assessment under Article 20a (1), the obliged person may, save for data referred to in paragraph 1, request other data, e.g., a telephone number, electronic mail address, employment or employer data.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, the identification of a beneficial owner means the ascertainment of name, surname, birth certificate number or date of birth, if no birth certificate has been assigned, permanent address or other residence and nationality. 

Article 10 Due diligence

(1) Customer due diligence applied by the obliged person shall include

a) identifying the customer and verifying the customer's identification,

b) identifying the beneficial owner and taking adequate measures to verify his identification including the measures to determine the ownership and control structure of the customer that is a legal entity or trust; in identifying the beneficial owner, the obliged person must not rely exclusively on the data obtained from the register of legal entities, entrepreneurs and public authorities (hereinafter referred to as the “register of legal entities”), provided there is a risk of money laundering or terrorist financing according to the risk assessment under Article 20,

c) obtaining information on the purpose and intended nature of the transaction or business relationship,

d) the ascertainment whether the customer or beneficial owner of the customer is a politically exposed person or sanctioned person,

e) depending on the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, the determination of the origin of funds or property used in the transaction or business relationship,

f) the ascertainment whether the customer acts in their own name,

g) conducting ongoing monitoring of the business relationship including the review of particular transactions carried out throughout the duration of the business relationship in order to find out whether the transactions being carried out are consistent with obliged person’s knowledge of the customer, the customer’s business profile and summary of possible risks connected with the customer, and the assurance of updating of the documents, data or information on the customer available to the obliged person.

(5) The customer is obliged to provide the obliged person with information and documents required for the performance of customer due diligence or identification and identification verification under paragraph 3.

Article 12 Enhanced due diligence 

(1) The obliged person shall be obliged to carry out enhanced customer due diligence if based on risk assessment pursuant to Article 10 (4), some of the customers, some of the types of transactions or some particular transaction present a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing. The obliged person shall apply enhanced due diligence always for cross-border correspondent relationship of the bank and financial institution with a respondent institution from a third country, for a transaction or business relationship with a politically exposed person or with a person established in the country identified as a high-risk country by the European Commission.

(2) Enhanced due diligence means that the obliged person shall carry out additional measures of due diligence depending on the risk of money laundering or terrorist financing.

Article 15 Refusal to establish a business relationship, termination of a business relationship or refusal to carry out a transaction

The obliged person shall be obliged to refuse to establish a business relationship, to terminate a business relationship or refuse to carry out a particular transaction if

a) the obliged person cannot carry out customer due diligence within the scope pursuant to Article 10 (1) (a) to (e) or

b) the customer refuses to prove in whose name they act.

Article 19 Data processing and retention

(1) For the purposes of customer due diligence and for the purposes of detection of unusual business operations pursuant to Article 14, the obliged person shall be authorised, even without the consent of the persons concerned, to identify, obtain, record, retain, use and otherwise process personal data and other data within the scope pursuant to Article 10 (1), Article 11 (3), and Article 12 (1) and (2); the obliged persons shall be entitled to obtain personal data necessary for reaching the purpose of processing by copying, scanning or other recording of official documents to an information carrier and to process personal numbers and other data and documents without the consent of the person concerned within the scope pursuant to Article 10 (1), Article 11 (3), and Article 12 (1) and (2).