Key Benefits:
Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment,
Given the monetary and financial code, including its articles L. 500-1, L. 520-2, L. 520-3, L. 520-6, L. 561-15 and L. 561-32 ;
Considering the advice of the Financial Legislation and Regulatory Advisory Committee dated June 15, 2009,
Stop it!
Prior to carrying out their business, hand-held exchangers send an application to the Committee on Credit Institutions and Investment Companies, which is based on a standard file, published in the Official Bulletin of the Committee on Credit Institutions and Investment Companies and the Banking Commission.
The Committee on Credit Institutions and Investment Companies shall notify the applicant within three months of the date of receipt of the application.
When the committee requests additional information to the applicant, the time limit, which is set aside to notify its decision, is suspended until such additional information is received.
The amount of the released capital or bond referred to in Article L. 520-3 is at least 38,000 euros.
Actual leaders and beneficiaries declare that they do not fall under the prohibitions set out in Article L. 500-1.
I. ― Pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 520-3 II:
1. A declaration shall be submitted within five working days from the date of their completion:
(a) The designation of any new leader;
(b) The incapacities referred to in Article L. 500-1 that affect the actual leaders or beneficiaries;
(c) Termination of activity.
2. The amendments to the following elements shall be submitted within one month of their completion:
(a) Acquisition of the quality of beneficial owner;
(b) Amount of capital or bond;
(c) Bail identity;
(d) Legal form of the company;
(e) Social name;
(f) Trade name;
(g) Address of the head office;
(h) Address of the principal place of operation and secondary sites.
The Committee on Credit Institutions and Investment Businesses has a period of two months from the date of receipt of the amended declaration regarding the designation of any new officer or the acquisition of the effective beneficiary quality to inform the subject company that the amendment is not consistent with the previously issued authorization.
II. ― Where the Banking Commission has notified the opening of a disciplinary proceeding to the Credit and Investment Institutions Committee, the Banking Commission may suspend the review of the application for withdrawal of authorization until the decision to close the proceedings initiated by the Banking Commission.
When the committee asked the applicant for additional information, the time limit, which is allocated to the applicant to notify its decision, is suspended until such additional information is received.
Pursuant to the provisions of the third paragraph I of Article L. 520-6, manual exchange transactions are immediately entered on a voucher, one copy of which is delivered to the customer and another retained by the manual exchanger. This voucher indicates the nature of the transaction, the currency(s) involved, the amounts changed and the courses practised. The vouchers are timed and numbered in chronological order.
The information contained on these vouchers shall be transcribed, by the end of each day, on the register provided for in Article L. 520-6, which may be held in paper or dematerialized form. When the register is kept in dematerialized form, an inviolable technical process for data authentication is used.
When the amount of a one-time operation, whether carried out in a single time or in a number of transactions that appear to be related, carried out with an occasional client exceeds the sum of 8,000 euros, the information relating to the transaction is immediately included in a specific part of the registry referred to in L. 520-6.
When the manual changer has for consideration a person mentioned in theArticle L. 561-2 of the Monetary and Financial Code or any person acting as an ordinary foreign currency trade profession, mention of that quality is included in the register.
Pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 561-32, hand changers must establish an accounting organization, written rules and internal control procedures to ensure compliance with the provisions of the above-mentioned article and obligations relating to the fight against money-laundering and the financing of terrorism. These procedures, which are intended, inter alia, to ensure compliance with the obligations of constant vigilance in all respects against the risk of being used for the purposes of laundering or financing of terrorism, describe the steps to be taken in the implementation of the above-mentioned provisions by providing guidance on:
the registration of the transactions referred to in Article 4 and their characteristics;
- the identification and verification of the client's identity and, where applicable, the beneficial owner, who requests the completion of the transaction, by the presentation:
- if it is a natural person, an official document that is valid in carrying his photograph. The records to be collected include the first names as well as the date and place of birth. In addition to these references, the elements to be retained include the nature, date and place of issue of the document, and the name of the authority or person who issued or authenticated it;
- if it is a legal person, the original or the shipment or the copy of any official record or record extract dating back to less than three months recognizing the name, legal form, address of the head office and the identity of the leaders;
― the terms and conditions for the registration of identification documents references;
- the amount and nature of the transactions that must be subject to particular vigilance because of their characteristics and in relation to a mapping of the risks of money laundering and the financing of terrorism based on customers or the amount and nature of the transactions that may be related to money laundering or the financing of terrorism;
- the frequency and nature of periodic and ongoing controls to ensure the effective implementation of procedures for the prevention of money-laundering and the financing of terrorism;
- the risk monitoring procedures that are developed for the various inspection personnel;
- the preservation of the documents necessary to comply with obligations relating to the fight against money-laundering and the financing of terrorism;
- the identity of the officers or officers authorized to make the declaration under Article L. 561-15.
The written rules and internal control procedures to ensure compliance with the above-mentioned vigilance obligations can be adapted to the size of the manual changer and the nature of its customers.
The list of manual exchangers is published in the Official Bulletin of the Committee on Credit Institutions and Investment Companies and the Banking Commission.
The Banking Commission shall establish, by way of instruction, the modalities for the transmission of the identity of the correspondent(s) designated in accordance with the provisions of theArticle L. 561-15 of the Monetary and Financial Code.
Manual exchangers shall address to the General Secretariat of the Banking Commission within three months of the closing date of the accounting year a statistical statement indicating the amount of sales and foreign exchange purchases made during the fiscal year ended.
Foreign notes and regulations made, by means of a payment instrument in a currency other than the euro, received in payment of goods or services are excluded from the declaration mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
The persons mentioned in theArticle D. 520-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code address each year to the General Secretariat of the Banking Commission, within three months of the closing of the accounting year, a statement on honour, using a model by which they attest not to exercise the manual exchange activity within the meaning of the II of thearticle L. 520-1 and comply with the conditions set out in section D. 520-1.
The decision of 26 July 1991 on the obligations of statistical declarations of manual changers and Regulation No. 91-11 of 1 July 1991 on the conditions of activity of manual changers are repealed.
Persons who have declared the manual exchange activity prior to the entry into force of the authorization regime, whose terms and conditions are defined by this order, must send to the Committee of Credit Institutions and Investment Companies an exercise certificate, as set out in the appendix.
The present order will be issued in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
You can consult the schedule, not reproduced below, in
Click on the "Facsimile" link at the bottom of this page
Done in Paris, September 10, 2009.
Christine Lagarde
