Name
Global FinTech Guide
Country _ Name
Egypt
SectionTitle
KYC requirements
Body
The know your customer or know your client (KYC) guidelines and regulations for financial services require that professionals try to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship.

Legal affairs

National regulatory framework regarding AML and effective date of the regulations

The Anti-Money Laundering law no 80 of year 2002 and its executive regulation constitute the regulatory framework regarding AML in Egypt. The law came into force in 2002 and since then several amendments to the law have been made.

National regulator or relevant authority for AML controls

The relevant authority is the Money Laundry & Terrorist Financing Combating Unit. This unit was established by virtue of the law, and it falls under the umbrella of the Central Bank of Egypt. The unit is responsible for reviewing suspicious transaction reports from financial institutions or other organisations. If the unit detects crime in suspicious transaction reports, it will report to law enforcement. Also, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is responsible for supervising, auditing, and regulating non-banking financial institutions.

Customer Due Diligence

Conduct of a typical KYC identification process

The customers need to be identified by the entities; the KYC must take place before conducting any business relation.

There are several personal details that must be obtained:

A) in case of a natural person:

  • Full name;
  • Nationality;
  • Date of birth, gender;
  • registered address;
  • Phone number and email address (if any);
  • Job title and the address of the workplace;
  • Purpose of creating an account; and
  • other parties who have control/access over the bank account.


B) in case of a juristic person:

  • Company's commercial register;
  • Company's Tax Card;
  • Minutes of the board of directors meeting; and
  • Shareholders who own a minimum of 25 % of the company's shares and board members' IDs (Passports).
  • Note: One of the company's authorised signatories must be present during the process. 



Possibility to meet customer due diligence requirements by relying on third parties who are obliged by law themselves to comply with AML regulations

In the absence of explicit regulations, clients, on their discretion, may seek the services of a third party for fulfilling AML/KYC obligations. Regardless of reliance on a third party, the client will remain liable for maintaining regulatory compliance as well as fulfilling AML and KYC obligations.

Possibility to outsource customer due diligence by contract to other third parties who are not obliged by law to meet AML regulations and rely on these (e.g., WebID, IDnow, PostIdent)

Yes, this is possible. However, the obligated party may oblige the third party to meet the AML regulations. The actions of such a third party are attributed to the obliged party as its own actions.

Presence of a license or registration requirement for the third party in case of outsourcing customer due diligence

Generally speaking, there is no need for an outsourcing company to obtain a license in order to do the customer due diligence on behalf of the obligated party.

Further questions

Entities that could be relied on specifically by law as a third party to comply with AML regulations (regardless of outsourcing)


Yes credit institutions
Yes
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