The European Banking Authority (EBA) called on financial institutions and national supervisory authorities on Wednesday 27 April to do their utmost to provide Ukrainian refugees with access to at least basic financial products and services.
In a specific statement, it explains how its anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing guidelines apply in the current context, and how financial institutions can adapt these measures to provide a pragmatic and proportionate response to the compliance challenges they face.
The EBA also sets out what financial institutions and supervisors can do to protect vulnerable people from abuse by criminals. It also encourages financial institutions to ensure that compliance with the EU restrictive measures regime does not lead to an unjustified reduction in risk.
The European authority recommends, for example, applying simplified customer due diligence measures when acquiring new customers or before carrying out an occasional transaction in situations where the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing is reduced.
See the EBA statement: https://aeur.eu/f/1dx (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)