May 19, Colombo: The Financial Intelligence Unit of Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has imposed Rs. 4 million of penalties on two financial institutions in 2021 for failing to comply with the Financial Transactions Reporting Act (FRTA) as a measure to enforce compliance.

According to the Central Bank, by virtue of the powers vested under Section 19 (1) read together with section 19 (2) of the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 06 of 2006 (FTRA), financial penalties are imposed on Institutions for non-compliance with the provisions of the FTRA.

The penalty may be prescribed taking into consideration the nature and gravity of relevant non- compliance of the Financial Institution or the Designated Non-Finance Business.

Accordingly, as the regulator for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) in the country, the FIU imposed penalties, totaling to Rs. 4.0 million for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 to enforce compliance on Financial Institutions.

Penalties were imposed mainly on the violations of Financial Institutions (Customer Due Diligence) Rules, No. 1 of 2016 in relation to the United Nations sanctions screening, customer identification and verification, Suspicious Transactions Reporting and implementation of proper risk controls and mitigation measures.

Details of the penalties imposed by the FIU from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 are as follows.