Handbook of Anti-Money Laundering.

CHAPTER 16CORPORATE CUSTOMER IDENTIFICATION

16.1 WHO IS A CORPORATE CUSTOMER?

There are many different forms of corporate customer, ranging from listed companies through private limited liability companies to partnerships, trusts and charities. Corporate customers that are public companies listed on stock exchanges will already be subject to market regulation and higher levels of public disclosure, in terms of their management, ownership and business activities. Their accounts will be subject to external audit by an independent firm and their results will be analysed by the media. Such corporate customers may be considered as potentially lower risk from a customer identification viewpoint due to the level of scrutiny that clearly exists, although such firms could still, of course, be involved in inappropriate activity.

In the UK, there are unlisted securities exchanges which appear to be listed but still have reasonably high levels of scrutiny. Larger, unlisted companies will also still be subject to higher levels of public disclosure and an external audit. They may have issued fixed-income securities which are themselves listed, increasing the independent level of scrutiny on the firm. It is this level of public exposure which makes corporate customers particularly concerned about money-laundering risks. Such firms will no more wish to be involved with money laundering or terrorist financing than would be the case for the bank.

The key problem is that detailed information ...