The Philippine Insurance Commission (IC) has issued guidelines on the conduct of institutional risk assessment relating to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) by insurance entities to ensure that such a review is carried out comprehensively and uniformly.
The guidelines follow a 2018 IC circular that requires the conduct of institutional risk assessments at least once every two years, or as often as the board or senior management may direct, depending on the level of risks identified in previous assessments or other relevant AML/CFT developments that may have an impact on the operations of IC-regulated entities.
IC commissioner Reynaldo Regalado says that a risk-based strategy for AML/CFT and proliferation financing (PF) will ensure that appropriate measures commensurate with those risks are adopted to mitigate them effectively.
The new guidelines stipulate three stages of the risk assessment process. These are:
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identification of the various ML/TF/PF threats and vulnerabilities (inherent risks) germane to the business operations of insurance entities;
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risk analysis, including likelihood and impact assessments;
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estimate of the level of each identified risk.