What services will need mandatory registration at fast payment machines?

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Friday, January 22

“Entering a personal number and SMS code when transferring through self-service terminals is part of a strategy to combat money laundering and terrorist financing,” the Banking Association said.

According to the NBG, the relevant representatives of the financial sector were fully informed about the upcoming changes. They had a certain deadline to inform the users about the new regulation entering into force in 2021.

Starting January 15, 2021, the requirement for mandatory identification of the payer has been activated for payments made by fast payment machines. According to the recommendation of the National Bank of Georgia, in order to protect the personal data of consumers, when performing various transfer operations through self-service terminals, it became mandatory to enter the user's personal number and SMS code sent to the mobile phone. Reform is in full compliance with the requirements of the new law of Georgia ‘On Facilitation of Prevention of Financing of Terrorism and Money Laundering’ adopted in 2019, which in turn is based on international standards under the European Directive and FATF 40 recommendations.

The amendment linked to a law passed by Parliament sets the registration as mandatory step in respect to certain transactions, specifically those that carry increased risks of money laundering and does not affect a number of categories of services.

The identification/verification process is mandatory when transferring money to the following services: gambling and lottery, online games, insurance and private pension funds, financial services, including: deposit to the bank account of individuals and legal entities, services of microfinance organizations and lending entities, leasing, e-wallet replenishment, financial markets and remittances, Internet marketing, transport and logistics, tourism services, network marketing, charity, consulting services; political parties; services related to the purchase of real estate.

Identification, regardless of the amount, is not required at all for the following payments made by the device: Utility payments; Payments to the state treasury/state pension fund; Civil transport; postal service; Education; Sports and recreation circles; Media/Press Subscription; Household services; Health & veterinary (except for the drug trade); visa service fee; a certain type of insurance that is exempt from identification requirements by law; Purchase of low-risk goods. Any other type of payments made with fast payment machines has a zero identification obligation. Accordingly, this requirement applies to only those types of payments, which carry a relatively high ML/FT risk and there’s need to fully monitor them in order to mitigate the risks of money laundering and funding terrorism.