IRDA asks Reliance Life to tighten anti-money laundering norms

NEW DELHI: Insurance regulator IRDA has asked Reliance Life Insurance Company ( RLIC) to strengthen procedures for complying with the anti-money laundering norms.

"...Authority advises your company (RLIC) to strengthen the procedure for complying with the AML (Anti-Money Laundering) norms prescribed by the Authority from time to time," IRDA said in a communication to RLIC.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) said, "The receipt of this letter be acknowledged and compliance submitted before December 31, 2013."

When contacted, the company did not comment. RLIC, which is a part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's financial services arm Reliance Capital Limited, has over 80,000 advisers and over 8,000 outlets across India and has achieved over 50 per cent growth in agent productivity as of September 2013.

In its communication, the IRDA said it found discrepancy in observance of the anti-money laundering norms by the Reliance Life Insurance during an onsite inspection it had carried out in May this year. The Authority forwarded the copy of the inspection report to the company for its comments and thereafter issued show-cause notice.

Citing instances of violation of anti-money laundering norms, the letter said it did not observe the regulation with regard to quoting of Permanent Account Number (PAN) for payment above Rs 50,000.

"The requirement of PAN above Rs 50,000 is examined at transaction level and not at the client level. This is in violation of clause 3 (I) of AML Master Circular (dated September 24, 2010)," the letter said.