Response to consultation on Guidelines on preventing the abuse of funds and certain crypto-assets transfers for ML/TF (Travel rule Guidelines)
Question 1. Do you agree with the proposed provisions? If you do not agree, please explain how you think these provisions should be amended, and set out why they should be amended. Please provide evidence of the impact these provisions would have if they were maintained as drafted'?
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for the opportunity to provide our feedback to the drafted Guidelines on preventing the abuse of funds and certain crypto-assets transfers for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes under Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 (“Guidelines”). Please find comments raised by the Polish banking sector (coordinated by the Polish Bank Association (ZBP) in the attached document (docx).
Please note that many of our comments refer to intermediated transactions, especially ones sent via non-bank payment service providers (nbPSP). While aware of the coming update of the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD), we still expect non-bank players to use banking services to an extensive degree in the foreseeable future. Moreover, specifically here in Poland, we have been instructed by our regulator not to confuse parties settling an actual business transaction (i.e. payer and payee) with the regulated entities intermediating between them (PSPs, e.g. payment aggregators, acquirers etc.), in particular – not to show an nbPSP as the payer for transactions ordered by them (unless they settle a standard business transaction for which they don’t need a payment license, e.g. pay salaries to their own employees). The (S1) scenario of a third party being the payer, or (S2) there being no payer at all (exclusion) are different scenarios than (S3) that very nbPSP declared as the payer, i.e. in their non-regulated role. As this area has remained out of the scope of both the existing and the drafted Guidelines, would like to stress the need for clarifications, bearing in mind there are many doubts regarding the required compliance levels within this scope.