Regulations

Regulatory Authority

NIBank®  is registered in Antigua and Barbuda, an island to the east of the Caribbean Sea that is backed by the British Crown as part of the Commonwealth, an advantage we use in your favor to offer you competitive advantages as an international bank.

NIBank® is regulated and overseen by the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC). Through the IBC ACT (International Business Corporation Act), the FSRC exercises strong control and supervision over financial entities registered in Antigua & Barbuda, constantly renewing and modernizing its supervising systems including the training of financial auditors, which has earned it The recognition of international organizations.

During 2010, the Office of National Drug Control and Money Laundering Policy (ONDCP), in conjunction with the FSRC, established new guidelines compiled in the Money Laundering Guidelines, as fundamental standards of correct banking operations, highlighting the banking reputation within the jurisdiction of Antigua and Barbuda.

SWIFT Code NOITAGA1XXX

AML/KYC

NIBANK has developed and implemented a risk-based AML/CFT program based in platform to consolidate all of its know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), transaction monitoring and sanctions screening into one platform to meet regulatory requirements and comprising written AML/CFT policies, procedures, internal controls and systems, which include but are not

Compliance Unit Function

1.  Advice Advice all staff members including, Senior Management and Board of Directors on compliance laws, rules and standards, including keeping them informed on developments in the area.

2. Guidance and education Provide training and assist senior management in: Educating staff on compliance issues, and acting as a contact point within the bank for compliance queries from staff members; and

Establishing written guidance to staff on the appropriate implementation of compliance laws, rules and standards through policies and procedures and other documents such as compliance manuals,internal codes of conduct and practice guidelines.

3. Monitoring, testing and reporting Monitor and test compliance by performing sufficient and representative compliance testing. Data should be collected on the transaction 

monitoring process and the follow up investigations.

The data should measure the number of flagged transactions, the number of SAR filings, the number of SAR filings which originated from non-transaction testing for a specific customer, alerts and SAR filings based on specific customer factors, such as products, geographic locations, types of business and other customer factors.

The key elements of the Banks monitoring include: Set rules and AML typologies, alerts generated in near Real-Time, Analyst optimized of the alerts and decision making. All these key elements allow the Bank to perform an accurate Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Filing, payment transaction risk scoring and case management.

4. Statutory responsibilities and liaison The Compliance Unit have specific statutory responsibilities. It may also liaise with relevant external bodies,including regulators, standard setters and external experts.

5. Compliance program The responsibilities of the compliance function should be carried out under a compliance program that sets out its planned activities, such as the implementation and review of specific policies and procedures, compliance risk assessment, compliance testing, and educating staff on compliance matters. The
compliance program should be risk-based and subject to oversight by the Chief Compliance Officer to ensure appropriate coverage across businesses and co-ordination among risk management functions.

Know Your Customer (KYC)

Customer Due Diligence (CDD) or Know Your Customer (KYC) policies are the cornerstones of an effective AML/CFT program. Put simply, they are the act of performing background checks on the customer to ensure that they are properly risk assessed before being on-boarded. We conduct our KYC with a risk-based approach and NIBank does not establish anonymous accounts.

Ongoing Due Diligence (ODD) is performed according to the risk assigned and if required Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) both are conducted.

The Bank KYC controls include:

  • Collection and analysis of basic identity information such as Identity documents.
  • Name matching against lists of known parties (such as PEP’s).
  • Determination of the customer’s risk in terms of propensity to commit money laundering, terrorist finance, or identity theft.
  • Creation of an expectation of a customer’s transactional behavior.
  • Monitoring of a customer’s transactions against expected behavior and recorded profile as well as that of the customer’s peers.
  • Risk measure based in the customer’s products and services, geography and jurisdictions, transactions, and business.