Norway’s AML/CTF supervisors
The Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) regulates banks, insurers, finance companies, investment firms, financial instrument markets, securities depositories, estate agents, e-money institutions, auditors and accountants, and other entities. Finanstilsynet's mission is to ensure financial stability and market functioning through supervising institutions and markets.
The Supervisory Council for Legal Practise oversees recognising advocates and other legal professions in Norway. It is also the official authority in charge of monitoring Norwegian legal professionals.
The Gaming Authority supervises the management and control of private lotteries and state-operated gaming and oversees gaming industry.
How do you comply with AML/CTF obligations in Norway?
You must determine and evaluate your company's risk of being used for money laundering and terrorism financing. You must take the following factors into consideration while conducting your risk assessment.
The kind and scale of your company
The company's goods, services, and client interactions
The categories and types of clients
Geographical considerations
Additionally, you must take the following actions.
Create procedures to make sure the undertaking handles, and identified risks all comply with requirements under the AML Act's provisions.
Implement Customer Due Diligence (CDD) controls and carry out continual surveillance based on a determination of the risk of money laundering and terrorism financing. The risk must be evaluated considering the customer’s purpose, the amount of money at stake, the volume of transactions, and the frequency and length of the customer relationship.
Maintain a constant watch over your interactions with your clients. The transactions that take place in the customer relationships in accordance with the customer information you have collected must be included in the monitoring. You must also consider your customer's business, risk profile, and funding source.
For a period of 5 years after the client relationship has ended, the transaction has terminated, or the transaction has been completed, record and maintain information along with documents that have been collected and generated.
Based on your risk assessment, you must have internal controls where necessary. You also need to do the following.
Appoint a compliance officer
Conduct employee background checks
Establish independent scrutiny of the undertaking's adherence to internal policies
Ensure that training is offered to all your employees and anybody else who performs tasks for the project, so they are aware of the obligations imposed by the AML Act
The following organisations are covered under the AML Act.
Banks and other financial entities
Financial organisations
The Norwegian central bank
E-money organisations
Companies involved in foreign currency transactions
Pay-for-service businesses
Investment companies
Management firms for investment funds
Insurance-related endeavours
Companies that carry out deposit-related activities
Alternative investment fund managers
What are my AML/CTF reporting obligations?
You must carry out a more thorough investigation if you find any circumstances that could suggest that money is being used for money laundering or terrorism financing (ML/TF). You must notify any circumstances that give rise to a suspicion of ML/TF to the Financial Intelligence Unit if further investigation reveals them.
