1. INTRODUCTION
On 4 February 2016, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision
published a revised General Guide to Account Opening ("the
Guide"). The Guide was first published in
2003, and the latest revised version appears as a new Annex 4 to
the Basel Committee's Guidelines on Sound Management of Risks
related to Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism. The revised
version of the Guide takes into account the significant
enhancements recommended by the Financial Action Task Force
("FATF") Recommendations and other
related materials.
The Guide is intended to assist banks in defining their approach
to account opening. Although the Guide does not take into
consideration specific local legal or regulatory requirements in
force in a country, it is nevertheless a useful document which all
banks should note. The Guide can be particularly useful to help a
bank benchmark its existing account opening protocols against
international best practices, particularly when
