Amendment to AML Enforcement Regulations

In light of the damage caused by the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake and other circumstances, the Financial Services Agency promulgated and enacted an amendment order establishing special rules concerning methods for verifying identifying information under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds Enforcement Regulations.

The amendment concerns the handling of identity verification for transfers of donations (disaster relief funds) related to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake and for account opening by disaster victims.

Under this special rule, transfers of eligible disaster-relief donations may be excluded from transactions subject to customer due diligence obligations, and disaster victims for whom regular verification of identifying information is difficult may use a temporary identity verification method.

Cash transfers for donations related to the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake are excluded from transactions subject to customer due diligence obligations if the destination account is limited to one opened exclusively to receive donations and the amount is 2 million yen or less.

When a disaster-affected customer is deemed unable to undergo verification using the regular method of verifying identifying information, the customer may, as a temporary measure, use a method based on receiving a declaration from the customer for the time being. After the regular verification method becomes possible, the specified business operator must conduct verification using that method without delay.