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BANKING ASSOC REQUESTS EXTENSION OF ACCOUNT ID COMPLIANCE DEADLINE

 

The Hungarian Banking Association will request the deadline for complying with stricter rules on identifying account ownership be pushed back to Sept. 30, the association’s head, Levente Kovács, told MTI.
Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a weekly press briefing earlier that the compliance deadline could be pushed back from July 26, but banks would have to initiate such a measure. Kovács said there was still enough time to amend legislation to move back the deadline.
The requirement affects bank clients who opened accounts before June 27, 2017, when stricter rules to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism came into force. Under the rules, banks are required to have copies of personal identification and proof of residence documents as well as the personal information of their clients. Clients must also make a declaration if they are a politically exposed person. In the case of corporate clients, documents showing proof of business ownership must be resubmitted.
Clients may comply by submitting the necessary documents in person at their banks or sending them by post. A number of banks are also allowing clients to comply using computers or mobile telephones with a camera and a microphone. The Finance Ministry said earlier in June that 2 million account holders had yet to comply with the rules. Clients who fail to do so by the deadline will not be able to make transactions using their accounts.