Spanish Law 10/2010 of April 28, on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, develops, in its Article 2, the list of entities considered obliged entities and therefore must comply with AML/CTF obligations.
One of the main obligations of obligated entities is to subject their internal AML/CTF procedures to review and audit by an independent external expert.
The external expert is responsible for conducting an annual examination of the previous year and documenting the results in a written report, which must include detailed information on existing internal control measures, an assessment of operational effectiveness, and, if necessary, proposals for potential corrections or improvements.
It is important to consider the guidelines of SEPBLAC and their considerations reflected in the Recommendations on internal control measures for AML/CTF issued in 2013 (link here). SEPBLAC (“Servicio Ejecutivo de la Comisión de Prevención del Blanqueo de Capitales e Infracciones Monetarias”, which is translated into english as “Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offenses”) states the following:
The obliged entity must ensure that the external expert explicitly evaluates the adequacy of the policies, procedures, and manuals of the obliged entity in line with the recommendations established in this document.
Additionally, SEPBLAC reminds that the external expert must follow the recommendations of Order EHA 2444/2007, of July 31, and conduct a sampling of the obliged entity's operations to verify effective compliance with due diligence measures.
The external expert must possess academic qualifications and professional experience that make them suitable for performing the function, and those intending to act in this capacity must notify SEPBLAC in advance.
At Summons Abogados, we have a team of professionals specialized in AML/CTF, duly communicated with SEPBLAC, who have been performing the role of external expert for many years.
Every year, our AML/CTF team prepares a variety of external expert reports by analyzing and auditing due diligence measures in AML/CTF for obliged entities operating in various economic sectors (e.g., financial sector, crypto asset providers, real estate, fintech, etc.).
In general terms, the external expert report must be submitted by February 28, 2024, and in this case, it must include an analysis of the measures adopted by each obliged entity in the 2023 exercise.
In any case, at Summons Abogados, we recommend initiating the audit process as soon as possible to conduct a thorough review and sampling required by the regulations and SEPBLAC.
For more information, please visit the official SEPBLAC website dedicated to this topic: https://www.sepblac.es/es/expertos-externos/
We remain available to any obliged entity that requires assistance in initiating this analysis and corresponding procedures, which, in addition to being mandatory, are always beneficial for advancing in the development and continuous improvement of regulatory compliance and AML/CTF practices.
