Know Your Seller Policy (KYS Policy)
- POLICY OBJECTIVES
This KYS – Know Your Seller Policy (“Policy”) of Naten SAS (“nocnoc”) applies to its operations and those of its subsidiaries, in conjunction with the nocnoc’s General Terms and Conditions for Sellers, the nocnoc Tax and Customs Compliance Policy and the nocnoc Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Manual, and any other policies nocnoc may make available from time to time (“Documents”) and has the following objectives:
Establishing the processes and aspects that compromise the KYS – Know Your Seller- Policy.
Establish, in conjunction with the platform’s General Terms and Conditions for Sellers, the rules and standards of conduct for controlling and monitoring clients with regard to the integrity, security and legality of their operations conducted through nocnoc.
Ensure compliance with the legislation, regulations, and instructions governing the prevention of money and asset laundering, in conjunction with the nocnoc Manual for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.
Minimize operational, legal, and reputational risks to which nocnoc may be subject by adopting an effective system for monitoring transactions, procedures, and internal controls.
Protect nocnoc’s reputation and image.
Establish a satisfactory level of knowledge of the client that enables us to know their characteristics and thus guarantee the maintenance of high levels of reliability in our operations.
These are other objectives of this policy:
1.1 COMMERCIAL OBJECTIVE
Knowing the customer allows us to know their characteristics as a seller of products made available to end customers, enabling us to offer additional products and enhance our service and the security of our operations. The challenges of today’s market require entities to understand their customers’ preferences and consumption habits. All this information, properly analyzed, allows us to personalize and improve our service.
1.2 PREVENTIVE OR CONTROL OBJECTIVE
The application of the Know Your Seller policy allows for control and prevents the occurrence of fraudulent operations involving prohibited or restricted products. It also strongly contributes to combating money laundering and asset prevention actions.
- 3 RISK MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVE
Risk management is an integral part of our business, and we constantly monitor customer operations through our risk prevention system. This allows for the proper assessment of activities carried out by our customers and the identification of suspicious situations, leading to measures against operations that may involve fraud.
- APPLICABLE REGULATIONS
nocnoc acts as an intermediary institution, complying with the laws and regulations in force in all the locations where it operates, as well as with the general rules and specific instructions issued by the Central Bank of Uruguay (hereinafter referred to as the “BCU”).
nocnoc also incorporates the recommendations of the main specialized bodies in the area (FATF/FATF Recommendations, Basel Committee, Wolfsberg Principles), and provisions applicable to relations with international banks (Patriot Act, OFAC Provisions) for intermediation institutions with nocnoc’s operational characteristics.
In addition, nocnoc incorporates into the application of this Policy the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the UK Anti-Corruption Act, the Brazilian Anti-Corruption Law (Law 12.846/2013), as well as the anti-corruption laws of any other jurisdiction applicable to its operations.
- GENERAL POLICIES
It is nocnoc’s policy not to initiate or maintain business relationships with individuals or companies that are:
⦁ Natural or legal entities prosecuted or convicted of crimes related to money laundering, terrorism, or terrorist financing when this condition becomes reliably known to nocnoc.
⦁ Persons or entities included on the lists of the Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the United Nations (UN) or the national list defined in Decree 136 of 16.5.2019, as established in UN Security Council Resolution S/RES/1373.
⦁ Natural or legal entities, clients or prospective clients, who do not comply with the Due Diligence requirements established by nocnoc.
nocnoc collects and analyzes relevant information about the identity and economic activity of its clients. This information can come from different sources, both public and private, and makes up a set of data that serves to understand the relative risk of each of its clients in relation to their operations, helping to prevent fraud and money laundering.
All the documents and data collected in the development of this Policy serve as support for detecting suspicious transactions and justifying operations that initially appeared as such.
The aspects or tasks that make up the KYS (Know Your Seller) process are:
⦁ Customer identification.
⦁ Filling in forms.
⦁ Request for supporting documents.
⦁ Data verification.
⦁ Consultation of Specific Lists.
⦁ Identification of Politically Exposed Persons.
⦁ Declaration request.
⦁ Storing and organizing information.
⦁ Updating data and documents.
3.1 CUSTOMER IDENTIFICATION
In accordance with our procedures, all customers, whether individuals or legal entities, must be identified with their full name and corresponding identification number.
To ensure that individuals conducting business or entering into contracts with our institution are who they claim to be, we will record data such as the signature and photograph of the client or user. To do this, we compare this data with documents that are presumed to be authentic, such as an identity card or passport.
For individuals, the documents that can be used for identification include ID cards, passports and driver’s licenses
For legal entities, some of the following documents will be requested: Articles of association; Articles of incorporation, Bylaws, Commercial registration; Notarial documents; Tax identification documents; and Licenses or special registrations.
In addition to the documents requested above, personal, employment, banking, or commercial references should be requested. This information aims to determine the real existence of the person, link them to other individuals or companies, and facilitate the verification of basic data.
For cases in which individuals present themselves to carry out operations on behalf of third parties, we will require personal identification and a judicial power of attorney. Furthermore, approval from the Legal Department will be requested.
3.2 FILLING IN FORMS
In order to get to know the customer, information must be recorded on forms, and mere identification is not enough. When identifying the customer, the collaborator must write down the customer’s basic data and financial information, so that it can be used when requested. The forms used by different areas where the information is recorded must be correctly completed.
3.3 REQUEST FOR SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
Although the principle of good faith exists, the information provided by clients must be verified and backed up by documents.
The collaborator must request certain original documents from the client in order to verify the accuracy of the information provided. In certain cases, copies or originals of documents such as formats, declarations, contracts, or identification copies must be kept.
3.4 DATA VERIFICATION
The obligation to verify the information provided can be fulfilled in various ways, depending on the risk involved in the transaction, the client’s time in business, and practical possibilities.
Public and readily available information should be consulted to corroborate the data provided by the client, taking as sources telephone databases and the authorities that certify judicial records, when this information is accessible.
Additional measures should also be considered, and visits to the customer’s premises of origin may be necessary to confirm the accuracy of the information provided.
3.5 CONSULTATION OF SPECIFIC LISTS
Lists issued by different authorities can be used to warn about the background of certain individuals or companies. Special query lists should be used with great care, as the existence of homonyms can cause inconveniences in their application.
Among the lists that we can consult in our system, some have been mentioned in section 3 of this Policy (“GENERAL POLICIES”).
3.6 POLITICALLY EXPOSED PERSONS
This Policy includes due diligence actions aimed at determining whether the potential client is a Politically Exposed Person (PEP), relative or close associate of a PEP, in which case procedures for special acceptance of the business relationship and monitoring of transactions will be applied.
nocnoc has established two mechanisms for identifying PEPs: the client’s own declaration (the PEP themselves, family member or close associate) and through verification carried out on PEP databases accepted by the company.
3.7 DECLARATION REQUEST
It is important to inform the client of the need to provide true and accurate information about their identity and economic activity. Customers often take KYS Policy forms lightly, as they assume it is a routine procedure with no major consequences, which is not true. The collaborator should ask clients to prove the veracity of the information provided by means of a declaration, including a sworn statement.
3.8 STORAGE AND ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION
The information collected in the application of this Policy’s rules is intended to support the analysis of customer transactions.
The different areas which, by the nature of their work, are related to the client, must safeguard the physical or electronic documents associated with the client, for the time established by law.
3.9 DATA AND DOCUMENTS UPDATES
Some of the data that the customer provides at the time of engagement is unlikely to change over time. However, essential financial information can commonly undergo changes. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to update them continuously.
- FINAL PROVISIONS
This document takes effect from the date of its approval, revoking all previous provisions. Any changes to its content must be requested from the Legal Department.
Changes to established work processes must be approved by the Legal Department and properly documented.