“Bank of Algeria” digs into the transfer of hard currency

In detail, the Bank of Algeria’s services in charge of field supervision for the fiscal year 2023 implemented a burden plan for 40 supervision missions, including 23 investigation and inquiry missions and 17 authentication missions for transfer operations. The investigation and inquiry missions were mainly concerned with foreign trade and exchange, including a multi-sector investigation mission that was implemented in 13 local banks and other thematic missions related to money laundering.

In the context of documenting operations before transferring foreign currencies, the Bank of Algeria’s offices responsible for field control were asked to ensure that these operations comply with the applicable regulations, and each operation was the subject of a report sent to the relevant department.

Regarding other partial precautionary control activities, and according to the Bank of Algeria’s report on monetary and economic development for the year 2023, there has been a continuation of verification and control work related to the accreditation of managers, requests for authorization to transfer shares and regulatory amendments, as well as the study of files related to the launch of new products by subject institutions, in addition to processing various requests from bank and financial institution clients to the Bank of Algeria.

Within the framework of these works, evaluation notes were prepared and addressed to the Secretariat of the Monetary and Banking Council and to the relevant directorate of the “Bank of Algeria” regarding files related to requests to launch new traditional or Islamic banking products.

The departments responsible for banking supervision of the “Bank of Algeria” studied 107 files requesting the accreditation of managers, in addition to studying 7 requests for a license to transfer shares, 4 files to increase capital, 8 files to renew the license to open representative offices, 8 files requesting permission to amend the basic law, one file requesting permission to cancel the physical nature of the bank collection, and one file requesting permission to amend the name included in the approval decision issued by the National Housing Bank.

These files also include licensing applications to launch new products on the market, 12 of which are related to Islamic banking operations.

Within the framework of protecting the consumer of financial services, 74 requests and grievances were registered from bank customers during the year 2023, which were processed by the General Directorate of the General Inspectorate.

During the year 2023, the sworn agents of the Bank of Algeria proceeded to issue 72 violation reports, 54 of which were due to non-repatriation related to export operations and 18 for false declarations related to import operations, within the framework of subsequent control based on documents based on files sent in an irregular situation by the accredited intermediary banks to the Bank of Algeria, in support of the relevant monthly declaration.

The control missions carried out by the Bank of Algeria confirm the importance of combating money laundering and enhancing transparency in the financial system. The bank carried out 40 control missions, covering 13 local banks, reflecting its commitment to ensuring the integrity of banking operations. These efforts represent an important step towards enhancing confidence in foreign trade and the exchange sector in the country.

Source: “Al-Shorouk”