ADVOKS GLOBAL · KENYA
Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act
45. Obligation to verify customer identity
Edition: 2025-11-04 · In force
45. Obligation to verify customer identity
(1)A reporting institution shall identify and verify—(a)any applicant seeking to enter into a business relationship with it or to carry out a transaction or series of transactions with it; or(b)a customer whether permanent or occasional, by taking reasonable measures to establish the true identity of that person by requiring the applicant or customer to produce an official record reasonably capable of establishing the true identity of the applicant or customer.(1A)The record envisaged under subsection (1) shall include—(a)in the case of an individual—(i)a certificate of birth;(ii)a national identity card;(iv)a driver’s licence; or(v)any other official means of identification as may be prescribed;(b)in the case of a body corporate-(i)evidence of registration or incorporation;(ii)the Act establishing the body corporate;(iii)a corporate resolution authorising a person to act on behalf of the body corporate together with a copy of the latest annual return submitted in respect of the body corporate in accordance with the law under which it is established; or(iv)any other item as may be prescribed;(c)in the case of a government department, a letter from the accounting officer and the relevant authorization from the National Treasury.(2)A reporting institution shall undertake customer due diligence on the existing customers or clients on the basis of materiality and risk and taking into account whether the customer due diligence measures have previously been undertaken and the adequacy of data obtained.(3)Where an applicant requests a reporting institution to enter into—(a)a continuing business relationship; or(b)in the absence of that relationship, any transaction,the reporting institution shall verify that any person purporting to act on behalf of the customer is so authorised, and identify and verify the identity of that person.(4)If it appears to a reporting institution that an applicant requesting to enter into any transaction, whether or not in the course of a continuing business relationship, is acting on behalf of another person, the reporting institution shall take reasonable measures—(a)to establish the true identity of the person on whose behalf or for whose ultimate benefit the applicant may be acting in the proposed transaction, whether as trustee, nominee, agent or otherwise; and(b)to identify and verify the identity of the beneficial owner using the relevant information or data obtained from a reliable source.(5)In determining what constitutes reasonable measures for the purposes of subsection (1) or (3), regard shall be given to all the circumstances of the case, and in particular to—(i)whether the applicant is a person based or incorporated in a country in which there are in force applicable provisions to prevent the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering, terrorism financing or proliferation financing; and(ii)any custom or practice as may, from time to time, be current in the relevant field of business.(6)The Cabinet Secretary may, by notice in the Gazette, list the countries to which subsection (5)(i) applies.(7)Nothing in this section shall require the production of any evidence of identity where there is a transaction or a series of transactions taking place in the course of a business relationship, in respect of which the applicant has already produced satisfactory evidence of identity.