According to article 7 of AML/CFT 2023, the reporting persons are the following:

(a) A Financial institution ;
(b) An advocate, a notary and other independent legal professionals when they represent or
assist a client outside of a legal proceeding; in particular, within the framework of the
following activities:
(i) buying and selling of real estate;
(ii) managing of client money, securities or other assets;
(iii)managing bank current, savings or securities accounts;
(iv)organisation of shares for the creation, operation or management of companies;
(v) creation, operation or management of legal persons or arrangements, and buying
and selling of business entities;

(c) An auditor, accountant and tax advisor;
(d) A real estate agent;
(e) Dealer in precious metals and in precious stones;
(f) Natural person, institution or company involved in the business of distributing money;
(g) Casinos and national lotteries gaming halls;
(h) Trust or company service provider.

Supervisory authority refers to the authority that regulates, supervises, controls and monitors the functioning of reporting persons. Under the Rwandan context, supervisory authorities include BNR, CMA, RRA, RMB, RDB, MINIJUST, ICPAR, Rwanda Bar Association and FIC.

Competent Authority includes all public authorities with designated resposniblities for
combating money laundering, financing of terrorism or financing of proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction ( Article 2(bb) of the AML/CFT Law 2023) which includes:
a) The Centre;
b) The authorities whose remits cover investigating or prosecuting money laundering,
associated predicate offences, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of
weapon of mass destruction and seizing, freezing, and confiscating proceeds of
crime or instrumentalities;
c) The authorities receiving reports on cross-border transportation of currency and
bearer negotiable instruments ; and
d) The authorities whose remits cover supervisory or monitoring responsibilities over
anti-money laundering, combatting the terrorist financing and financing of
proliferation of weapon of mass destruction

Money laundering includes the commission of any of the following acts either by a person
who commits a predicate offence or by a third party, carried out in Rwanda or on the
territory of another country:

(i) the conversion, transfer or handling of assets or funds whose perpetrator knows or has
reasonable grounds to know that such property or funds are the proceeds of crime or it
derives from an act of participation in such crime;

(ii) the concealment, disguise of the true nature, origin, location, movement, disposition,
donation, disguise of the beneficial owner of funds or other assets, or the person having
rights on it, knowing or having reasonable grounds to know that such of funds or other
assets are proceeds of crime or from an act of participation in such crime;

(iii)acquisition, possession or use of funds or other assets the author knows or has
reasonable grounds to know, at the time of reception, that such funds or other assets
derived from proceeds of crime or from an act of participation in such crime;

(iv)participation in, association with or conspiracy to commit, attempt to commit, aiding,
inciting, abetting, facilitating or counselling the commission of any of the acts specified
under (i), (ii) and (iii) of this subparagraph

Self-laundering consists of the laundering of proceeds of crime by a person who was
involved in the commission of the predicate offence.

Third party money laundering consists of the laundering of proceeds of crime by a person who was not involved in the commission of the predicate offence.

Standalone money laundering refers to the prosecution of money laundering offences independently, when there is no evidence of the true source/origin, or a specific predicate offence.

• A person who carries out one of the acts of money laundering or who is involved in an association aiming at committing one of the acts of money laundering, commits an offence. Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 years but not more than 15 years and a fine of 3 to 5 times the value of proceeds of crime laundered.

• A person who carries out an act aimed at helping another person to have a share in the funds or property obtained through money laundering, or of a terrorist or of someone who may be a terrorist by any means commits an offence. Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 years but not more than 15 years.

Terrorist financing includes an act committed by a person who by any means willfully:

(i) Provides, collects or manages any funds or other assets whether from legitimate or illegitimate source, directly or indirectly, or attempts to do so, with the unlawful intention that they should be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used in whole or in part to carry out a terrorist act; or by an individual terrorist or by a terrorist organization;

(ii) Offers advice, finances, teaching or training in order to acquire skills and knowledge knowing or having reasonable grounds to know that they may be used, or intended to be used for terrorism act and the financing of travelling of individuals who travel to States other than their States or their States of residence for the purpose of the perpetration, planning or preparation of, or participation in terrorist acts, or the providing or receiving of terrorist training; or

(iii) Supports any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.

A person who carries out acts of terrorism financing or who is involved in an association aiming at committing one of the acts of financing terrorism commits an offence. Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty (20) years but not more than twenty-five (25) years and a fine of Rwandan francs of three (3) to five (5) times the amount of money given; the same penalties apply to a person who knowingly makes an agreement or has interest in it in order to acquire funds or any other assets, or enables another person to acquire money or support, knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that they can be used for terrorist purpose.

In case the terrorist financing results into death, the penalty is life imprisonment.

There is an offense of financing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction if one of the following acts is carried out:

a) Providing property or funds for the manufacture, production, possession, acquisition, stockpiling, development, transportation, sale, supply, transfer, import, export, transshipment or use of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons and such other materials, as may be prescribed, which are related to such weapons;

b) Providing technical training, property or funds, financial service, advice, service, brokering or assistance related to any of the activities specified under item a.

(1) A person who carries out one of the acts of financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, commits an offence. Upon conviction, he or she is liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 20 years but not more than 25 years and a fine of 5 to 10 times the value of the financing given.

(2) The penalties referred to above paragraph apply to a person who knowingly makes an agreement or has interest in it in order to acquire property or funds or enables another person to acquire money or support, knowing or having serious grounds to suspect that they may be used for financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Predicate offense means any offense generating illicit funds which can be laundered to become a money laundering offense.

The key stakeholders in Anti Money Laundering, Counter Financing Terrorism and Counter Financing Proliferation (AML/CFT/CFP) include the Coordination Council responsible for AML/CFT/CFP, the National Counter Terrorism Committee, MINAFFET, MINECOFIN, MINIJUST, Security Organs, Judiciary, NPPA, RIB, RDB, RGB, FIC, Supervisory Authorities, Reporting Persons and Non Profit Organisations (NPOs).

The Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) is an FATF Regional Style Body and associate member of FATF that promotes and assesses the implementation of global standards to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism and proliferation within the member countries. It was established in 1999 and is composed of 21 member countries.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. The inter-governmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society. As a policy-making body, the FATF works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.

The FATF Recommendations are a set of 40 global standards designed to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They provide a comprehensive framework of legal, regulatory, and operational measures that countries should implement to create a robust system for detecting and disrupting illicit financial flows. They are the basis on which all countries should meet the shared objective of tackling money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation.

Rwanda is not a member country of FATF but it is a member country of ESAAMLG, an associate member of FATF. Being a member of ESAAMLG, Rwanda commits to adopting and implementing international standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation commonly known as FATF 40 recommendations.

They are key recommendations with which countries are required to ensure full compliance. They include Recommendation 3, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 20 that are viewed as vital building blocks for a functional AML/CFT regime.

To effectively combat ML/TF/FP, countries should apply the Risk Based Approach. To this end FATF standards require countries to identify, assess, and understand the money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks for the country and take approriate actions to mitigate them.

The National Risk Assessment (NRA) is a process that enables a country to systematically evaluate and address potential money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing threats and vulnerabilities affecting the country. The findings of NRA inform policy makers to develop and implement relevant strategies and actions.

Mutual Evaluation is a peer review process where countries assess each others technical compliance with the FATF Recommendations and review the level of effectiveness of a country’s AML/CFT/CFP system. 

The assessment of technical compliance addresses the specific requirements of the FATF 40 recommendations focusing on relevant legal and institutional framework of the country, and the powers and procedures of the competent authorities. These represent the fundamental building blocks of an AML/CFT system. 

The effectiveness assessment evaluates the adequacy of the implementation of the FATF Recommendations, and identifies the extent to which a country achieves a defined set of outcomes that are central to a robust AML/CFT/CFP system. It focuses on 11 Key Immediate Outcomes which measure the extent to which a country is achieving the defined goals of its AML/CFT/CFP system.

Following the approval of Mutual Evaluation Report, a country with strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT/CFP regime is placed by FATF under increased monitoring, commonly known as the country is grey-listed. The country on that list has committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring.

A country identified with serious strategic deficiencies to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of proliferation is considered as high-risk and subject to call for Actions. In this context, FATF calls on all members and urges all jurisdictions to apply enhanced due diligence, and in the most serious cases, countries are called upon to apply counter-measures to protect the international financial system from the ongoing money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing risks emanating from the country. This means a country is blacklisted.

These two lists are updated on regular basis.

A country is grey listed when it meets FATF International Cooperation Review Groug (ICRG) entry criteria based on its Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) results and the ICRG prioritisation criteria. The FATF ICRG is a compliance enhancing mechanism for countries across the Global Network where the system needs fundamental improvements and involves more direct monitoring by the FATF.

After the adoption of the MER, A country is referred to ICRG for observation if it meets any of the following criteria: 

a) it has 15 or more Non-Compliant/Partially Compliant (NP/PC) ratings for technical compliance ; or 

b) it is rated NC/PC on 3 or more of R.3, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 20; or 

c) it has a low or moderate level of effectiveness for 9 or more of the 11 Immediate Outcomes, with a minimum of 2 low level ratings; or 

d) it has a low level of effectiveness for 6 or more of the 11 Immediate Outcomes.

A country is placed under active ICRG review when meeting both ICRG entry criteria and prioritization threshold (that is broad money more than 10 billion USD or the equivalent in other currency).

A country that meets ICRG entry criteria but not meeting the prioritization threshold will not be put placed under active ICRG review (grey listed) but it will be in ICRG pool.

A country may also be nominated for active ICRG review by ESAAMLG, any other FSRB or FATF delegation based on direct and specific knowledge that, that country is substantial ML, TF PF threat to the global community.

Suspicious transaction/ activity is a transaction or attempted transaction, activity or attempted activity where a reporting person has suspicions or reasonable grounds to suspect that it is the proceed of a crime, or is related to money laundering, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Suspicious transaction reporting requirements apply to all reporting persons which include financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBP' s).

All suspicious transactions, including an attempted transaction, regardless of the amount of the transaction as well as any activity by the customer, suspected to be related to money laundering, financing of terrorism or financing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It is important to note that there is no monetary threshold which applies to the reporting of suspicious transaction or activity.

A reporting person reports a suspicious transaction or activity using the template established by the Centre. The reporting person promptly submits a suspicious transaction or activity report to the Centre within 24 hours. The report may be submitted electronically or in any other channel as the Centre may determine.

A reporting person reports to the Centre a suspicious transaction or activity.

A non-cash form of money such as a cheque, bill of exchange, promissory note, traveller's cheque, bearer bond, money order or postal order. BNIs often include the instruction 'pay to the bearer.

Cash courier means a natural person who physically transports cash or bearer negotiable instruments in his or her pockets, vehicle, cargo or luggage.

Cross-border Cash/Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNIs) declaration means submission by a cash courier of a truthful written declaration form indicating cash or bearer negotiable instruments equal to or above 10,000,000 Rwandan Francs or its equivalent in any other currency.

Cross border Cash/BNI disclosure means the provision by a cash courier of appropriate and truthful information to the competent authority upon request.

A person who enters into the territory of the Republic of Rwanda with physical transportation of Cash/BNIs of which value is equal or above 10,000,000 Rwandan Francs or its equivalent in any other currency, is obliged to disclose when requested to do so by the competent authority operating at border, airport or port.

A person who is in transit through or departing from the territory of the Republic of Rwanda transporting Cash/BNIs of which value is equal or above 10,000,000 Rwandan Francs or its equivalent in any other currency, is obliged to declare to the competent authority by filling a dedicated declaration form.

A person who makes a physical cross-border transportation of cash or bearer negotiable instruments of which value is equal to or above FRW 10,000,000 or its equivalent in other currencies while travelling to, transiting through or departing from the territory of the Republic of Rwanda, submits a truthful declaration or discloses appropriate information to the competent authority.

All transactions involving domestic and foreign notes and coins, and includes travellers’ cheques.

A reporting person submits to the Centre a report of a cash transaction or wire transfer for the following thresholds:

(a) an occasional customer who makes a transaction involving an amount above FRW 10,000,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency;

(b) a financial institution reports a cash transaction equal to or above FRW 10,000,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency, except where the sender and the recipient are banks or other financial institutions;

(c) a casino reports a cash transaction equal to or above FRW 3,000,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency;

(d) a dealer in precious metals and precious stones reports a cash transaction equal to or above FRW 15,000,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency;

(e) a reporting person reports a wire transfer transaction equal to or above FRW 1,000,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency.

N.B: The measures apply to transactions whether conducted as a single transaction or several transactions that appear to be linked and the total of which exceeds the threshold.

Tipping off is the act of alerting someone that suspicious transaction has filed with the centre. Tipping off is prohibited.

Beneficial owner is a natural person who ultimately owns or controls a customer or the natural person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted. It also includes a natural person who exercises ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement.

Targeted Financial Sanctions (TFSs) mean both asset freezing and prohibitions to prevent funds or other assets from being made available, directly or indirectly, for the benefit of designated persons.

A Designated person means individual, groups, undertakings and entities listed by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) relevant committee or by a country for application of Targeted Financial Sanctions pursuant to UNSC relevant resolutions designated by the Committee of the Security Council.

A sanction list means a United Nations (UN) Sanction list or domestic sanction list of designated persons.

Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) include foreign, domestic and International Organisations PEPs. 

Foreign PEPs are individuals who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions by a foreign country, for example Heads of State or of government, senior politicians, senior government, judicial or military officials, senior executives of state owned corporations, important political party officials.

Domestic PEPs are individuals who are or have been entrusted domestically with prominent public functions, for example Heads of State or of government, senior politicians, senior government, judicial or military officials, senior executives of state owned corporations, important political party officials. 

Persons who are or have been entrusted with a prominent function by an international organisation refers to members of senior management, i.e. directors, deputy directors and members of the board or equivalent functions. 

PEPs include also family members or close associates of such PEPs.

A reporting person must maintain all necessary records on transactions, both domestic and international, for at least ten (10) years following completion of the transaction.