Compliance and anti-money laundering in Belgium

The Law of 18 September 2017 applies only to the obliged entities that its article 5 lists exhaustively. That list runs from the National Bank of Belgium to the operators of games of chance. It covers banks, statutory auditors, accountants, tax advisers, notaries and judicial officers. If your profession is not on it, the duties in Book II of that law do not apply to you.

Society today is over-regulated. Everyone is presumed to know the law, yet knowing all of it is in practice close to impossible. On top of their statutory duties, companies impose their own standards and rules on their staff. After several well-publicised stock market scandals, financial institutions were the first to set compliance up as a separate department. That department sees to it that every law and standard inside the business is actively followed.

The Law of 28 November 2022 requires every legal entity in the private sector to set up an internal reporting channel. Entities with fewer than fifty employees are exempt. That exemption is lost for entities covered by the provisions on financial services, products and markets. It is lost too for entities covered by the Law of 18 September 2017. An obliged entity therefore needs a reporting channel however small it is.

The director can be fined in person as well. Article 132 of the Law of 18 September 2017 allows an administrative fine against the company and against the responsible members of its management body. If your bank reports a transaction to the CFI, your account can be frozen before you learn that a case is open. A director who wants the whole picture will find it on our page for company directors. Fellow lawyers who refer such a case will find the arrangements on our page for referring lawyers.

Start by asking whether you are an obliged entity. Article 5, § 1, of the Law of 18 September 2017 lists the categories exhaustively. If you are one, article 16 requires an overall risk assessment. It takes account of your clients, your products and services, the countries involved and your delivery channels. Article 8 requires policies, procedures and internal control measures proportionate to your nature and size.

Next, check the appointments article 9 requires. Your statutory management body or your effective management appoints one person responsible at the highest level. You also appoint one or more people who analyse atypical transactions and file the reports with the CFI. The regulation of the National Bank of Belgium of 21 November 2017 calls that person the AMLCO and requires a yearly activity report. Article 10 requires an internal channel through which your staff can report breaches confidentially and anonymously, and article 11 a permanent training programme.

Next, review your client files. Article 21 requires you to identify every client with whom you enter into a business relationship and to verify that identity. Article 23 requires the same for the ultimate beneficial owner, including an understanding of the client’s ownership and control structure. Article 60 sets a retention period of ten years and article 62 requires you to erase the personal data once that period expires.

Finish with the UBO register and the reporting channel. Article 1:35 of the Code of Companies and Associations gives your management body one month to file the ultimate beneficial owners with the UBO register. The Royal Decree of 30 July 2018 requires an update at least once a year. For the reporting channel you appoint an independent report manager and you keep a register of every report received.

If you suspect that something is going wrong inside the business, our page on corporate fraud investigation explains how an internal investigation is run. If a case leads to a prosecution, our page for people suspected of fraud sets out what comes next.

Only if it appears in article 5 of the Law of 18 September 2017. That list is exhaustive and runs from the National Bank of Belgium to the operators of games of chance. Insurance undertakings appear there only for their life insurance business. A lawyer is an obliged entity only for the transactions that article 5, § 1, 28°, sets out. If your profession is not on the list, the duties in Book II do not apply to you.

The director can be fined in person as well. Article 132 of the Law of 18 September 2017 allows an administrative fine against the company and against the responsible members of its management body.

You must acknowledge receipt of the report within seven days. Article 12 of the Law of 28 November 2022 sets that deadline. Feedback must follow no later than three months after that acknowledgement. If you sent no acknowledgement, that three-month period runs from the expiry of the seven-day period.

The CFI can oppose the execution of the transaction. Article 80 of the Law of 18 September 2017 limits that opposition to five working days at most from the notification. If the CFI wants to hold the transaction longer, it refers the matter to the public prosecutor or to the federal prosecutor. If the bank receives no decision within those five working days, it may execute the transaction.

No. Article 55 of the Law of 18 September 2017 lays down a prohibition on disclosure. The obliged entity may not tell the client that information has been passed to the CFI. The same prohibition covers its directors and its staff, and it covers the existence of an ongoing analysis. That prohibition explains why a bank often gives no reason when it freezes an account or ends the relationship.

Yes. Article VII.59/4 of the Code of Economic Law gives a right to a basic banking service after three credit institutions have refused the application. That right belongs to every company established in Belgium and registered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. The right also arises when two institutions refuse and your accounts are being terminated. A failure to answer within fifteen working days counts as a refusal, and the basic banking service chamber at the FPS Economy handles the application.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 applies from 10 July 2027. It has direct effect and does not have to be transposed into Belgian law. Directive (EU) 2024/1640 must be transposed by the same date and repeals Directive (EU) 2015/849 on that date. The Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism has its seat in Frankfurt am Main.