On June 3rd 2015, a letter of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (“CSSF”) dated April 29th 2015 was made available by the Association Luxembourgeoise des Compliance Officers (“ALCO”). The CSSF addresses a question raised by ALCO about the obligation to appoint an Anti-Money Laundering compliance officer in undertakings for collective investment (“UCIs”) that take the form of investment companies.
UCIs are subject to the law of November 12th 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (“the Law”), should they fall into the scope of Article 2 (1) § 4 of the Law when they market their units, securities or partnership interests.
This obligation to appoint an Anti-Money Laundering compliance officer finds its source in the CSSF Regulation N° 12-02 of December 14th 2012 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (“the Regulation”). Article 40 of the Regulation reads as follows: “Pursuant to Articles 4(1) and 5(1) of the Law and Article 7(2) of the Grand-ducal regulation [of 1 February 2010 providing details on certain provisions of the Law], the professionals shall appoint at least one AML/CFT compliance officer within the management or authorised management, in accordance with the professional's activities, size and organisation. As regards credit institutions and investment firms, the Chief Compliance Officer, responsible for the Compliance function, shall also be in charge of the AML/CFT compliance function.”
According to the CSSF’s letter, those corporate form UCIs managed by Luxembourg based management companies do not have to appoint an Anti-Money Laundering compliance officer, as the presence of such officer within the management company is deemed satisfactory. Any other UCIs (including those managed by non-Luxembourg management companies) should comply with Article 40 of the Regulation and the appointment of an Anti-Money Laundering compliance officer is mandatory.
