Anti-Money Laundering Policy (AML)

Limit – if you transfer more than 1 999 euros, the legislator requires us to verify your identity! An exception is the transfer by bank account.

Hartmann & Benz GmbH – Stuttgart
Anti-Money Laundering Policy (AML) Policies to be implemented for independent partners (self-employed affiliates) and employees of Hartmann & Benz GmbH

AML

The aim of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policy is primarily to ensure that money laundering is combated in the course of business activities. Money laundering means that money originating from illegal transactions is converted into legitimate appearing money or investments (e.g. precious metals) in such a way that the illegal origin of the money cannot be traced afterwards.

Hartmann & Benz sees itself obliged to implement the AML regulations not only by law, but also out of its own self-interest, in order to protect the company from financial damage and loss of reputation. This also applies to all independent partners and employees.

RegulationsIn

order to combat money laundering, the legislator has issued regulations. They contain guidelines and procedures that are mandatory to be applied for this purpose, both by management as well as by employees and independent partners.

In accordance with these regulations, Hartmann & Benz GmbH follows a variable approach that assesses the risk in each individual case and takes appropriate preventive measures on a case-by-case basis.

Interactive money laundering prevention At Hartmann & Benz, the prevention of money laundering is based on the three pillars of due diligence, risk analysis and reporting suspicions within the company between management and employees. In addition to the multi-stage identification of the client and the information he or she provides on his or her person and the origin of the money, this approach also includes the conscientious and detailed keeping of records.

Due diligence Hartmann & Benz and all its employees fulfil their due diligence obligations in the context of money laundering prevention when conducting business, in particular through the following procedures:

•Verification of the identity of the client

•Assessment of the business objective

•Documentation of unusually high transaction sums with regard to their legal origin

•Particularly careful clarification of precarious transaction patterns

•Guarantee by management that all regulations – as evidenced by internal reviews – are effectively implemented by the entire staff in order to meet the required standards of the legislator. This is achieved in particular through regular training of staff by management and the provision of required information to them.

•All obligations are recorded. If necessary, a report is made to the competent authority if suspicious activities have to be assumed or an initial suspicion exists.

•In the event of suspicion, transactions affected by this will under no circumstances be executed before clearance by the authority.

Minimising the risk posed by the client To manage the risk of money laundering for our trading company Hartmann & Benz, we choose the so-called risk-based approach. This means that we take a practicable – cost-effective and proportionate – approach to risk analysis, while fully complying with the Money Laundering Act. This is particularly the case because it is mandatory that we conduct an extended due diligence on the client.
•The client poses a special risk within the meaning of the AML if he originates from one of the FATF countries (Financial Action Task Force) or is assigned to one of the following 10 lists:

1.European Union (consolidated list)

2.European Union (terrorist list)

3.FATF (terrorist and non-cooperative countries)

4.BoE (Consolidated List)

5.HM Treasury (Investment Ban List)

6.Interpol list of most wanted persons

7.OFAC – special list of names

8.OFAC – sanctioned countries

9.US Department of State Foreign Terrorist Exclusion List

10.Sanctions list of the United States

•Furthermore, the client poses a particular risk within the meaning of the AML if, for example, he exhibits one or more of the behaviours listed below:

11.The client answers questions about due diligence evasively, unclearly or not at all.

12.The client behaves nervously or at least unusually or contradictorily

13.The client gives contradictory or illogical answers

14.The client is reluctant to disclose the source of his financial resources

15.The client tries to evade required information during registration

16.The client tries to bribe in order to speed up a withdrawal process

17.The client pays in a disproportionately large amount of money in relation to his profile

18.The client deposits significantly more money than in his previous history

19.The client transfers money to another client without any traceable connection

20.The client is reluctant to disclose his identity

21.The client requests details of company limits or the company’s own AML/CTF procedures.

22.The client withdraws deposited money within one day (24 hours) without having purchased a product or used a service in the meantime

23.The client talks about illegal activities that led to the acquisition of his assets (e.g. dirty money)

24.The client presents forged identity documents or other identification documents to purchase services or goods from a company

25.The client comes from countries where money laundering is common

26.The client is – allegedly – acting on behalf of a third party

27. The client behaves in a risk-taking manner towards penalties and other forms of risk

28.The client shows an incomprehensible increase in business volume

29.The client appears to be atypical for a business or client and transaction do not fit together

30.The client increases business activity significantly at certain times

 

Hartmann & Benz GmbH – Stuttgart
Clients – Due Diligence, identification, monitoring and record keeping, transactions For the special attention of our independent partners (self-employed affiliates) and employeesDue Diligence (Client Due Dilligence/CDD) The central requirement anchored in the AML policy refers to the fact that the identity and reputation of a client must be checked, verified and recorded with due diligence before a business transaction can be concluded.

This regulation applies in particular to banks and the precious metals trade. Hartmann & Benz takes this obligation to carefully check the integrity of its clients very seriously, for example by checking their names against the financial sanctions list. Only when there are no concerns whatsoever about the client’s seriousness can the close of a deal with our firm be initiated. IdentificationMethod of identification Our clients are identified by document (ID card), which is copied and kept on file. In addition, we supplement our due diligence by requesting a recent electricity bill or bank statement with the client’s name and address.

We also find out the intentions of a potential client in order to be able to check the plausibility of the type of business relationship. This way of exercising our due diligence in the sense of the AML ultimately creates a basis of trust between us and the client, which enables us to enter into a prosperous mutual business relationship.

Prolongation of the integrity check We also do not rely on the fact that the client’s integrity, once established, is fixed for all time. Rather, we see a prolongation of the carefully conducted integrity check (continuous monitoring) as an ongoing task. The greater we consider a risk in a business relationship, the more we proceed with the special care then required when examining potential clients. For example, we may include a negative media review in our review as well as sources of income of the person in question.

High-risk V.I.P.

Our company also requests all necessary client data from persons who have held or currently hold significant political office, as we are required to classify this group of persons as high-risk. Continuous monitoring

General information

As already explained above, the AML requires our company to continuously monitor customer activities. It is obvious that once a client’s integrity has been established in the course of an initial transaction, it cannot necessarily be transferred unchecked to all subsequent transactions. Training For this reason, our constant monitoring includes the following aspects in particular: Training of employees to handle continuous client monitoring.

Particular attention is paid to
•A comparison of each transaction with previous transactions•A plausibility check with regard to the origin of the funds used for the transactions•A change of the client’s previous transaction model•A detailed manual or automatic documentation of the transactions Documentation obligationsDocumentation of all business transactions Our company – which includes all independent partners and employees – maintains sufficient records to fully demonstrate compliance with all regulations at all times.

This includes awareness of all policies and procedures and the necessary communication and control within our company. The due diligence imposed on us includes not only a general client and transaction risk analysis, but also the verified client identity including all verification and accompanying documents. Audit trail In order to create an audit trail, we continuously monitor our clients’ transactions together with the documentation for the transactions carried out. All documents are kept by our company or its employees for the entire duration of a business relationship and for 5 years beyond. Principles for conducting transactions

Prevention of unlawful transactions

Clients can only transfer money to their own account (bank account, Monteline account or bank card, for example) and only if all KYC documents are in verified form. This arrangement is in accordance with the AML. In case of suspicion of money laundering activities or other unlawful practices, we will strictly refrain from executing transactions of any kind, block the business relationship and, if necessary, even terminate it altogether. Furthermore, transactions are only possible within the framework outlined below:
•Disposal of personal income

•Rewards

•Bonuses•Only to own account, not to third party accounts

•Only if the account movements are within the scope of the customer history

Counter-terrorism

It goes without saying that Hartmann & Benz GmbH as well as its employees, representatives and consultants neither negotiate nor conclude any business transactions with terrorists. On the contrary, in the event of any grounds for suspicion, we will inform the relevant authorities without delay of any suspicions we may have. Handing out the policy to our employees The relevant policy has been handed out to the employees and representatives of our company.

If new employees are hired or new representatives join our company, they will also receive a copy of this policy upon hiring. Concluding remarks We would like to thank all our employees for their conscientious implementation of the policy, which was approved by the management on 18/08/2019. If you have any queries regarding this policy, please contact our Compliance Department