Covered-Person Assessment
Legal analysis of whether your business model falls within the AMLA's covered categories — and exactly which obligations attach if it does.
Corporate & Commercial
Anti-money laundering compliance is examined, not assumed. We build it the way a regulator would test it — led by a founding partner who spent years as a BSP Chief Examiner doing exactly that.
Overview
The Anti-Money Laundering Act — Republic Act No. 9160, as amended — designates a wide range of businesses as "covered persons": banks and other financial institutions, money service businesses such as remittance companies and money changers, jewelry and precious-metals dealers for large transactions, real estate developers and brokers for large cash transactions, and others. Covered persons must register with the AMLC's reporting portal and carry real, continuing obligations: customer due diligence and know-your-customer procedures, record-keeping, covered transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports, and an implemented money-laundering prevention program.
The obligations do not stop with the AMLC. Money service businesses must additionally register with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas before operating — a licensing process we handle alongside our banking and regulatory practice. And non-compliance is not theoretical: the AMLC and supervising regulators impose administrative sanctions and pursue enforcement actions against covered persons whose registration, reporting, or prevention programs fall short.
Our edge in this field is unusual for a law firm: our founding partner is a CPA-lawyer and former BSP Chief Examiner — the very role that examines institutions for this kind of compliance. As part of our corporate and commercial practice, we assess whether a business is covered, complete its registrations — often together with its initial business registration — and build compliance programs designed to pass examination, not just to sit in a binder.
Scope of Work
Legal analysis of whether your business model falls within the AMLA's covered categories — and exactly which obligations attach if it does.
Enrollment with the AMLC's reporting portal, designation of the compliance officer, and setup of the electronic reporting facility.
The separate Bangko Sentral registration money service businesses need before operating — remittance and transfer companies, money changers, and foreign exchange dealers.
Customer identification, verification, and risk-rating procedures proportionate to your business — the front line of any AMLA compliance framework.
Systems and procedures for filing covered transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports correctly, confidentially, and on time.
Drafting and implementation of the board-approved money-laundering prevention program — record-keeping, training, and audit — built to withstand regulatory examination.
Common Questions
The Anti-Money Laundering Act, as amended, designates a growing list of covered persons. Beyond banks and other financial institutions, it includes money service businesses such as remittance and transfer companies and money changers; jewelry dealers and dealers in precious metals and stones, for transactions above the statutory threshold; real estate developers and brokers, for cash transactions above the threshold; and other businesses such as offshore gaming operators and certain company service providers. Whether your particular business model falls within a covered category is a legal question worth answering carefully — before a regulator answers it for you.
A covered person must enroll with the AMLC's online reporting portal so it can electronically file its covered and suspicious transaction reports. Registration involves establishing the business's identity and category, designating a compliance officer, and setting up the reporting facility. But registration is only the entry point: the covered person must also adopt a money-laundering prevention program, implement customer due diligence, keep records, and actually file the required reports. For money service businesses, registration with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is a separate, additional requirement before operating.
A covered transaction report, or CTR, is filed for transactions exceeding the monetary thresholds set by the AMLA and its rules — reported automatically by amount, regardless of anything unusual. A suspicious transaction report, or STR, is different: it must be filed whenever the circumstances of a transaction raise defined red flags — no apparent lawful purpose, amounts not commensurate with the client's profile, structuring to avoid reporting, or links to unlawful activity — regardless of the amount involved. Both are filed with the AMLC within the periods fixed by the rules, and both are strictly confidential.
It is the written, board-approved compliance framework every covered person must adopt and implement. A proper program sets out the business's customer due diligence and know-your-customer procedures, record-keeping system, processes for detecting and reporting covered and suspicious transactions, employee training, and internal audit — all calibrated to the risks of the particular business. Regulators examine not just whether a program exists on paper, but whether it is actually implemented. We draft programs that fit the business and can withstand examination.
Non-compliance exposes a covered person to administrative sanctions from the AMLC and its supervising regulators — monetary penalties that can accumulate per violation, enforcement and cease-and-desist actions, and consequences for the business's registrations and licenses. Where violations are willful, the AMLA also carries criminal penalties for responsible officers. Beyond the sanctions, an adverse regulatory finding can cut a business off from its banking relationships, which for many covered persons is an existential threat. Early, structured compliance is dramatically cheaper than remediation.
Work With Us
Reach us via Call, Viber, or WhatsApp at 0917-187-1951 to assess your coverage, complete your registrations, and build your program.
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