Sustainability
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Sustainability

Together, a better life.

Together, a better life.

Financial Crime Prevention

Financial Crime Prevention

Anti-Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing Countering and Financing of Weapons Proliferation

In response to the ever-changing threats of financial crimes and the latest domestic and international risk trends in recent years, SinoPac Holdings not only continues to cooperate with the policies of the competent authorities and actively establishes public-private partnerships, but also promotes the use of financial technology and the establishment of a culture of anti-money laundering. In addition, SinoPac enhances the Group's awareness of financial crime risks, mitigates the related risks, implements the Group's financial care for its customers, and proactively realizes the financial consumer protection aspect of ESG in the context of social responsibility through the following financial crime prevention framework.

Financial Crime Prevention Framework

Financial Crime Prevention Risk Challenges and Response Actions

Technological advances in recent years have driven the digitization of the financial sector at an unexpected pace. This change has led to the need for the financial services industry to rapidly achieve a more transparent, secure, and digitized financial environment that emphasizes friendliness and caring. On the other hand, technological development has also changed the pattern of financial crime, with more technical means and new ways to disguise the pattern of crime. As a result, combating financial crime has become more challenging and important than ever. In order to prevent and implement the Group's anti-money laundering measures and to combat financial crimes such as the terrorism financing and financing of weapons proliferation, SinoPac has taken the following precautionary measures:

Precautionary Measures Improvement Direction
Applying Technology to Combat Financial Crimes and Enhancing Joint Group Prevention
  • SinoPac Holdings has built the ”Financial Holdings Anti-Money Laundering Information Platform” since 2019, setting up relevant sharing procedures for sharing anti-money laundering and information about combating the terrorism financing among its Subsidiaries. The Legal & Compliance division of SinoPac Holdings has regularly reported to the President of SinoPac Holdings on a semi-annual basis on the status of implementation and enforcement within the Group.
  • The Legal & Compliance division of SinoPac Holdings intends to make use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and GAI (Generative Artificial Intelligence) technologies to analyze the information available in negative news and convert that information into a Group consistency list, which will be made available to the Subsidiaries as a means of strengthening customer due diligence and identifying customer risks. This provides the Subsidiaries with a powerful tool for enhancing customer due diligence and identifying customer risk profiles. In addition to reducing inter-subsidiary duplication and improving data quality, the tool reduces risk gaps and lowers compliance risk through joint group defense.
  • To mitigate the risks associated with emerging technology companies, the Subsidiaries collect registered business items via RPA (Robotic Process Automation), and continuously update these companies into the high-risk customer list.
Training and Culture Shaping
  • To establish the compliance culture for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Terrorism Financing, the chief AML/CFT compliance officer and AML/CFT personnel, as well as the supervisors of related business departments of SinoPac Holdings and its Subsidiaries, must attend at least 12 hours of internal and external AML training each year. SinoPac Holdings also organizes regular AML training for all employees of SinoPac Holdings and its Subsidiaries. Participants include Directors, senior executives, chief AML/CFT compliance officers, and general staff. Training is implemented in the form of computer-based training or physical training. Training topics include anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing development trends, anti-money laundering practical experiences sharing, emerging technological money laundering patterns, fraud prevention and fraud recognition and terrorist financing case studies, etc.

Customer Due Diligence

To implement anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing tasks, Bank SinoPac has established a detailed Customer Due Diligence (CDD), which also included non-face-to-face CDD procedures for customers opening online or digital accounts, as well as background checks and identity verification procedures for politically exposed persons (PEPs). In addition to establishing policies and procedures for account and transaction monitoring, Bank SinoPac also categorizes, screens, and monitors customers according to a risk-based approach. Furthermore, Bank SinoPac continues to optimize its information system and use financial technology to identify transactions suspected of being financial crimes, determining the reasonableness of the transactions in the identified alert cases. If the transaction is suspected of being money laundering or terrorism financing, it will be reported to the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau immediately after being approved by the dedicated supervisor in charge of anti-money laundering.