Circulaire CSSF 23/843

The CSSF has issued Circular CSSF 23/843, which covers the adoption of the EBA Guidelines EBA/GL/2023/04 on money laundering and terrorist financing risk factors when providing access to financial services. This circular applies to credit and financial institutions as defined in Article 1(3) and (3a) of Title I of Chapter 1 of the Law of 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
The purpose of this circular is to inform the relevant institutions that the CSSF, as the competent authority, has integrated the EBA Guidelines into its administrative practice and regulatory approach with the aim of promoting supervisory convergence at the European level. The EBA Guidelines follow up on the EBA’s publication of its Opinion on „de-risking“ in January 2022 and the European Commission’s request for the EBA to issue guidelines on steps institutions should take to facilitate access to financial services for particularly vulnerable customers.
This present set of EBA guidelines complements the EBA’s Guidelines on ML/TF risk factors, as outlined in Circular CSSF 21/782 and Circular CSSF 23/842. The EBA Guidelines specify the policies, procedures, and controls credit and financial institutions (professionals) should have in place to mitigate and effectively manage ML/TF risks in accordance with Article 8(3) of Directive (EU) 2015/849. The guidelines also clarify the interaction between the provision of access to financial services and the professionals‘ AML/CFT obligations, setting out the steps professionals should take when considering whether to refuse or terminate a business relationship with a customer based on ML/TF risk or AML/CFT compliance grounds. The EBA Guidelines also address aspects relating to the complaint mechanism that professionals should have in place to ensure customers can complain if they feel they have been treated unfairly.
The EBA Guidelines are annexed to this circular and are applicable as of 3 November 2023.