By Navendra Seoraj
IDENTIFICATION requirements are being simplified by the Bank of Guyana (BoG) for the opening and maintenance of customer accounts at Licenced Financial Institutions (LFIs).
This is being done through modification of previously issued stipulation on Supervision Guideline No. 13 on “know your customer (kyc) and customer due diligence requirements (cdd)”.
According to a press statement from the BoG, the amended guidance is intended to specify simplified due diligence measures for customers who are categorised as ‘low-risk.’
These simplified measures would include the acceptance of one form of identification document, an individual’s national identification card, passport, or a driver’s licence.
In instances where the identity document contains the details of a customers’ address, such document may also be acceptable for proof of address and there will be no requirement for annual submission of these documents to the LFIs.
In addition, the bank said the requirements for medium and high-risk customers will also be revisited with a view of enhancing the risk-rating framework for these categories.
These measures, which will confirm to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, are intended to reduce the burden on individuals who had previously faced challenges in securing the requisite documentary requirements for the opening and operating of accounts at LFIs.
“Further, the bank has always strived to foster greater financial inclusion as is evident by these and other measures including the issuance of Circular No. 53/2018 which provided for reduced due diligence measures for small savers which are natural persons with monthly deposits up to $500, 000,” said the Central Bank.
These amendments come at a time when President Irfaan Ali has signalled his Government’s intention to enhance the ease of doing business.
President Ali, in his inaugural speech, had highlighted the Government’s intention to create a Single-Window Clearance System, geared at reducing bureaucracy and the cost of doing business. He explained that this new system will make it easier for local and foreign investors to start-up and establish businesses in Guyana.
“Doing business in Guyana is way, way too difficult in terms of the international comparison or even in terms of the Caribbean comparison,” Trinidadian Senior Economist, Dr. Roger Hosein, lamented, in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle.
Dr. Hosein explained that Guyana must do its “homework” on how to improve the ease of doing business here; if the country is successful in this bid, greater private capital injection and foreign capital injection will be facilitated.
Moreover, the country would be better positioned to target its diaspora to help boost economic activity by direct participation, human capital formation, or financial capital flows.
A country’s ease of doing business is determined through the use of numerous indicators. These include starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
Each country is given a score for each indicator, and then, an overall ease of doing business ranking. According to the World Bank’s Doing Business Report for 2020, Guyana was rated 134 out of 190 countries in terms of the ease of doing business.
