Value Payment Solutions Limited Anti Money Laundering Policy

1. POLICY STATEMENT 

Value Payment Solutions Limited (VALUEPAY) as a payment solutions service provider is centred on delivering value through innovation and exceptional user experience and therefore recognizes at all levels the need to ensure that its business operates smoothly and without interruption for the benefit of its customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders. 

VALUEPAY is committed to observing the provisions of the Money Laundering Prohibition and Prevention Act 2022 in all its affairs. This Policy aims to ensure that VALUEPAY and all its employees and stakeholders comply with the legislation and due diligence is applied in relation to the Know Your Customer Principles.

This Policy sets out the procedure to be followed if money laundering is suspected and defines the responsibility of individual employees in the process.

VALUEPAY has a zero-tolerance policy towards money laundering and is committed to the highest standards of accountability, professionalism and integrity both in letter and in spirit. The penalties for such violations are severe and can result in imprisonment and fines for the employees and executives responsible. In addition, there would be significant disruption of service as well as reputational damage for VALUEPAY.

This Policy shall apply to all employees of the Company. Any breach of this policy will result in a serious matter, as such will be subjected to disciplinary action and termination; and could result in the employee becoming personally liable to criminal prosecution.

2. DEFINITIONS

AML - Anti- Money Laundering 

CFT - Combating Financing of Terrorism 

CDD - Customer Due Diligence 

KYC - Know Your Customer 

KYCB - Know Your Business

MLRO - Money Laundering Reporting Officer 

Money Laundering is the act of directly or indirectly concealing or disguising any fund or property that is derived from the proceeds of an unlawful activity. The Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 provides procedures for customer due diligence, reporting requirements, offences and penalties. 

Section 18(2)- (6) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 describes and penalizes the offence of Money Laundering as thus:

(2) Any person or body corporate, in or outside Nigeria, who directly or indirectly—

• conceals or disguises the origin of,
• converts or transfers,
• removes from the jurisdiction, or 
• acquires, uses, retains or takes possession or control of any fund or property, intentionally, knowingly or reasonably ought to have known that such fund or property is, or forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, commits an offence of money laundering under this Act.

(3) A person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (2) is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than four years but not more than fourteen years or a fine not less than five times the value of the proceeds of the crime or both.

(4) A corporate body who contravenes the provisions of subsection (2) is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than five times the value of the funds or the properties acquired as a result of the offence committed.

(5) Where the corporate body persists in the commission of the offence for which it was convicted in the first instance, the regulators may withdraw or revoke the certificate or licence of the body corporate.

(6) The unlawful act referred to in subsection (2) includes—

• participation in an organized criminal group ;
• racketeering, terrorism, terrorist financing ;
• trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, sexual exploitation, sexual exploitation of children ;
• illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances ;
• illicit arms trafficking, illicit trafficking in stolen goods ;
• corruption, bribery, fraud, currency counterfeiting ;
• counterfeiting and piracy of products, environmental crimes ;
• murder, grievous bodily injury ;
• kidnapping, hostage taking, robbery or theft ;
• smuggling (including in relation to customs and excise duties and taxes), tax crimes (related to direct taxes and indirect taxes) ;
• extortion, forgery, piracy ;
• insider trading and market manipulation ; and
• any other criminal act specified in this Act or any other law in Nigeria including any act, wherever committed in so far as such act would be an unlawful act if committed in Nigeria.

Generally, there are three (3) independent stages of money laundering: 

Placement: involves the introduction of illegally obtained assets/funds into the financial or nonfinancial institutions.

Layering: involves conducting a series of simple or complex financial transactions aimed at concealing the source or identity of the assets. The transactions are designed to hamper the audit trail, disguise the origin of the funds/assets, and provide anonymity.

Integration: involves placing the laundered proceeds back into the economy in such a way that the funds/assets re-enter the financial system as apparently legitimate funds.

3. OBJECTIVE 

The objective of this AML/CFT Policy is to set out the procedure to guide employees and VALUEPAY to conduct business in accordance with the applicable Anti- Money Laundering Laws and Regulations. This Policy aims to protect VALUEPAY from being used as a channel to launder money, finance terrorism and other forms of financial crimes.

4. SCOPE

The scope of this policy sets the minimum standards for employees of VALUEPAY to comply with AML\CFT laws and regulations in the following broad areas:

• Conduct of financial services;
• Dealings with third party beneficiaries (including consultants and contractors);
• Employees conduct.

5. COMPANY’S OBLIGATIONS 

VALUEPAY has the following responsibilities:

• Appoint a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) to receive, consider and report as appropriate the disclosure of any suspicious activity reported by employees.
• Implement and maintain standards and procedures to enable the reporting of suspicious activity.
• Maintain customer identification procedures to ‘Know your Customer’ in relevant circumstances.
• Maintain adequate records of transactions.

VALUEPAY adopts a risk-based approach when it comes to handling money laundering issues and conducting due diligence. All staff members need to be vigilant against the financial crime and fraud risks that the company faces. Instances of money laundering may be rare at the Company however with the measures in place, we are aware of the legislative requirements and shall adhere to them.

We assess the relevant risks to our operations and put in place the processes and procedures that we deem necessary to mitigate the risks. We determine the appropriate level of due diligence by looking at the customer risk factors and analysing the Company’s potential exposure to money laundering.

6. EMPLOYEE OBLIGATIONS 

All employees have a responsibility to:

• Adhere to the AML/CFT policy of the company; 
• Conduct business in accordance with applicable anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing laws and regulations and maintain the highest ethical standards.
• Not provide advice or assistance to any individuals or groups who attempt to violate or evade anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing laws and regulations.
• Avoid establishing relationships with individuals or entities who may pose undue reputational risk to the company.
• Report any suspicious transactions or activity.
• Document such suspicious transactions and inform the MLRO.
• Conduct proper due diligence on the customer suspected of money laundering.
• Follow any instructions issued by the MLRO upon reporting suspicious transactions.
• Attend internal training conducted by the company on money laundering transactions and how to handle such issues.

Any staff member of VALUEPAY will be deemed to have committed an offence under money laundering laws where he or she is directly involved or suspected to be involved in the money laundering transaction one way or another and fails to comply with internal guidelines or policies on reporting such incidents.

They may also be deemed to have committed an offence where they were suspected of money laundering and failed to document or notify the MLRO of such suspicious activity.

Any staff member caught committing such an offence will be subjected to disciplinary action as outlined in the Employee Disciplinary policy. Any such consequence shall apply to the staff member.

7. KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER AND CUSTOMER DUE DILIGENCE 

VALUEPAY must be reasonably satisfied with the identity of the customer; and satisfactory evidence of the identity of the customer must be provided and retained. VALUEPAY shall put in place Customer Due Diligence procedures which shall be monitored by the MLRO. Due Diligence shall be conducted for all customers in the following instances:

1. When business relationships are established; 
2. When there is a suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing; 
3. When the Company has doubts about the validity or adequacy of previously obtained customer identification data; 

Our Customer Due Diligence follows the Know Your Customer (KYC) principles. The major components of KYC are:

1. Ascertaining and verifying the identity of the customer i.e knowing who they are and confirming that their identity is valid by obtaining documents or other information from sources that are independent and reliable;.
2. Ascertaining and verifying the identity of beneficial owners of a business or company, if there are any, so that you know the ultimate identity of the owners or controllers of the business or company;
3. Information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship ie knowing the services that they will consume and how that meets their business needs;

VALUEPAY has put in place procedures for conducting customer due diligence on a risk-sensitive basis to ensure appropriate use of resources. Customer due diligence records shall be retained for a period of not less than five (5) years from the date of which the business relationship was established. Failure to keep adequate records may result in a criminal offence. 

8. MONEY LAUNDERING REPORTING OFFICER

VALUEPAY has appointed a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) who is the Chief Compliance Officer. The MLRO is responsible for coordinating the identification, management of compliance risks and the supervision of other compliance functions. The responsibilities of the MLRO shall include:

1. Coordination and implementation of the Company’s AML/CFT compliance initiatives; 
2. Develop the compliance strategy, policy, structure and processes; 
3. Report non-compliance and other potential exposures to the management immediately and establish prompt mechanisms for the resolution thereof;
4. Collaborate with internal stakeholders and other Regulators; 
5. Ensure training of the Company’s employees to ensure that they have the required technical knowledge and regulatory framework applicable to the company;
6. Ensure that the management and employees of the company are trained on AML/CFT awareness, detection methods and reporting requirements.

9. DISCLOSURE PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED BY EMPLOYEES

Where a member of the staff knows or suspects that money laundering is taking place or is about to take place, or you become aware that involvement in a transaction may amount to a breach of the regulations, they must notify and disclose the same to the MLRO immediately.

In filing a report, it must contain as much details as possible including but not limited to:

1. Full details of the individuals or companies involved including yourself and members of staff if relevant;
2. Full details of the transaction and the nature of each person’s involvement in the transaction;
3. Suspected type of money laundering activity with exact reasons as to why you are suspicious;
4. The dates of any transactions, where they were undertaken, how they were undertaken, and the likely amount of money or assets involved;
5. Any other information that may help the MLRO judge the case for knowledge or suspicion of money laundering that may help to facilitate any report to the Financial Reporting Council.

Once you have reported your suspicions to the MLRO you must follow any instructions given to you. You must not make any further inquiries unless instructed to do so by the MLRO. At no time and under no circumstances should you voice your suspicions to the person(s) you suspect of money laundering nor should the matter be discussed with other members of staff. 

Where appropriate, the MLRO will refer the case to the Financial Reporting Council who will undertake any necessary investigations. 

10. ACTION AND DISCLOSURE OF THE MLRO

On receipt of a disclosure report, the MLRO will:

1. Note the date of receipt and acknowledge receipt of the disclosure report; 
2. Assess and advise the individual concerned when a response can be expected;
3. Consider the report and any other relevant information, undertaking further inquiries before deciding whether a report should be made to the Financial Reporting Council.

Once the MLRO has evaluated the case, a timely determination will be made as to whether:

1. There is an actual or suspected money laundering taking place;
2. There are reasonable grounds to know or suspect that this is the case;
3. Consent is required from the Financial Reporting Council for a transaction to proceed;

Where the MLRO concludes that the case should be disclosed to the Financial Reporting Council. It should be done:

1. In a timely manner;
2. In accordance with the standard reporting format to the Financial Reporting Council;

Where the MLRO concludes that there are no reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering then consent will be given for the transactions to proceed and the disclosure report will be marked accordingly.

11. RECORD KEEPING 

The law requires that records of financial transactions should be kept for a minimum period of five (5) years whether or not the customer has ceased business relationship with VALUEPAY in compliance with the Money Laundering Obligations. Such records shall be made available to the AML/CFT Officer from time to time.

The type of records kept include:

1. Account files, business correspondence, and copies of documents evidencing the identities of customers and beneficial owners;
2. Records of transactions sufficient to reconstruct each individual domestic or international transaction for both account holders and non-account holders;
3. Copies of suspicious transaction reports, cash transaction reports among other relevant reports;
4. A written record of findings with respect to the transactions.

Documents may be kept in multiple formats but a digitally scanned copy must be stored in a secure server for all documents where possible. The formats in which documents may be kept are as follows:

1. Original certificates;
2. Copies of the certificates or documents;
3. Electronic or computerized documents;
4. Scanned copies of certificates;

VALUEPAY shall maintain records of customer identification and transactions both for internal audit purposes and in order to enable the authorities to investigate and trace suspicious money laundering activities. Record shall be kept as may be required by law for at least five (5) years in the following instances:

1. After the business relationship has ended;
2. From the date of transaction;
3. From the date, the report was made to the Financial Reporting Council;

12. TRAINING

This policy shall be communicated to staff through internal communication and short training sessions. The MLRO shall ensure adequate training of staff on AML/CFT compliance issues and shall help in establishing guidelines for staff on the appropriate compliance with laws, rules and standards through policies, procedures and other documents. The MLRO must maintain a record of all formal training for at least five (5) years.