Anti-Money Laundering policy
1. Anti-Money Laundering Policy
1.1. This policy sets out how ACF Group LTD will comply with its obligations under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) and the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulation 2017 which seeks to combat money laundering.
2. What is Money Laundering?
2.1. Guidance issued by the Gambling Commission defines money laundering as the placement, layering or integration of money which has been derived directly or indirectly from criminal activity. The ‘proceeds of crime’ refers to all property from which a person benefits directly or indirectly by being party to criminal conduct.
3. Legal Background
3.1. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002(POCA) creates a number of money laundering offences, including:
· Concealing criminal property.
· Disclosing criminal activity.
· Converting criminal property.
· Transferring criminal property.
· Removing criminal property from the UK.
3.2. POCA also creates an offence of ‘tipping off’ which consists of warning an individual who is subject to a proceeds of crime investigation that they are being so investigated. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) and the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulation 2017 place further obligations on persons regulated (such as gambling operators) to conduct risk assessments and to implement written policies, procedures and controls and record keeping aimed at combatting money laundering.
4. Risk Assessment
4.1. Guidance from the Gambling Commission makes clear that gambling operators should take a risk based approach. This entails the gambling operator looking carefully at how their business operates and identifying the risks which they have identified and what steps they take to deal with those risks. To this end, ACF Group LTD have devised a detailed risk assessment which accompanies this policy which informs our assessment of risk across all areas, including the risk of money laundering. Our risk assessment is reviewed on an annual basis and updated accordingly. It will be noted that as at the date of this policy, we have identified the risk of money laundering to be ‘low’ because the Esports Fantasy League is a subscription-based game only. This means to say that a customer can only transfer a nominal amount of money in respect of the specific tournament(s) which he/she wishes to participate in. There is therefore very limited opportunity for a customer to transfer large sums of money which is what money launderers are typically looking for. Notwithstanding this overall risk, we have reviewed the following criteria in accordance with the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission and have made the following assessments.
4.2. As part of Esports Fantasy League operational business model, TrustPayments will play a crucial part in handling customers financial operations. TrustPayments will be responsible for collecting, storing and processing customer financial and transactional data in line with TrustPayments published terms and conditions that customers will have to accept at the point of account registration. Similarly to ACF Group LTD, TrustPayments will conduct regular security policy and money laundering risk assessment reviews.
5. Country/Geographic Risk
5.1. Esports Fantasy League will explicitly notify its customers that by signing Terms and Conditions, when registering new account, they will become a subject to UK laws and regulations as ACF Group is UK-based company and therefore will be obliged to comply with UK gambling regulations. If user will reject these conditions, they will not be able to register and ESFL platform nor take part in any fantasy tournament. They will be only able to view non-gambling related materials such as latest news and esports tournament streams, linked to YouTube and Twitch. Therefore, as part of this policy ACF Group identified Customer’s geographic location as ‘low’ risk.
6. Customer Risk
6.1. ACF Group has introduced various mechanisms of limiting customers ability to spend extensive amount of money over very short, or prolonged time period. Our customers will only be able to purchase either one of our standard subscription products, that will allow them to participate in all tournaments for selected discipline per one calendar month.
7. Transaction Risk (Including Means of Payment)
7.1. All Transactional risks will be handled and mitigated by ACF Group trusted merchant provider TrustPayments. TrustPayments will ensure that all of the transactions are handled in a safe and secure way in line with modern UK/EU/US laws and regulations. TrustPayments has introduced various policy and control measures to prevent any money laundering or crime related activities. These policies will be reviewed on annual basis by both TrustPayments and ACF Group in line with latest regulations. Therefore, the risk of fraudulent transactions will be classed as ‘low’ for ACF Group operations.
8. Product Risk
8.1. ACF Group has not identified any product related risks which may occur due to money laundering activities. All of ACF Group products are delivered in a safe and secure manner with a clear distribution of responsibilities amongst our trusted service providers i.e. AgeChecked, TrustPayments, PandaScore and Amazon.
9. Verification
9.1. ACF Group LTD has contracted with of the UK’s leading age and identity verification provider AgeChecked to verify the identity of all customers. As such, we would have carried out a thorough due diligence on the identity and location of all of our customers.
10. Customer Monitoring
10.1. ACF Group LTD will be monitoring the conduct of customers on a daily and weekly basis. In this monitoring, we will assess how many tournaments an individual typically participates in over a given period of time. If there is a significant change in their behaviour, e.g. the customer participates in an unusually high number of tournaments, then this will be flagged as a concern for further investigation in accordance with our policy as set out below.
11. Steps to Be Taken
11.1. In the event that we have concerns of money laundering (or problem gambling), we would normally take the following steps.
i. A representative of ACF Group LTD will contact the customer in confidence to note the change in their gambling activity, and to explore with them if there are any issues of concern.
ii. If we note a significant increase in the number of tournaments which a customer is participating in, our representative will contact the customer and seek evidence of source of funds. If a customer cannot satisfy us that the source of funds is legitimate, we will consider the option of suspending their activity and/or making a report to the National Crime Agency.
12. Employees of ACF Group LTD
12.1. ACF Group LTD is committed to anti-money laundering policies. To that end, any employees who are employed by ACF Group LTD will be fully trained in this policy and be fully trained in identifying patterns which may give rise to money laundering concerns, and seeking relevant evidence from customers.
13. Nominated Officer
13.1. Anatoliy Cox, as the Director of ACF Group, is the nominated officer for implementation of the Anti-Money Laundering Policy and will ensure that any staff employed by the company are fully conversant with its terms.
14. Record Keeping
14.1. ACF Group LTD will keep detailed records on customer’s activities with Esports Fantasy League. The records retained will be as follows:
· Name and address of customer.
· Date customer first subscribed to a membership.
· Date of re-occurring subscription payment
· Each tournament subscribed to.
· Record of winnings obtained.
· Notes of any written or verbal communication with the customer for any reason, including money laundering concerns.
TrustPayments will keep all of the customer financial records and transactional history, including:
· Bank accounts from which subscription was paid, and any winnings paid into (which will normally be the same one).
14.2. In accordance with the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission, all records will be retained for a period of five years from the date when the customer ceases to be a customer of ACF Group LTD.
14.3. The documents will be stored electronically in ACF Group secured servers, operated by Amazon Web Services.
15. Suspicious Activities and Reporting
15.1. Under POCA, a nominated officer is under a legal obligation to make a disclosure in the form of a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) to the National Crime Agency (NCA) where the nominated officer decides that a report gives rise to grounds for knowledge or suspicion. Anatoliy Cox will be responsible to submit an SAR to the NCA.
15.2. Under POCA, NCA has seven working days from receiving a Suspicious Activity Report in which to indicate whether they consent to a particular transaction taking place. If they grant consent or fail to indicate a refusal of consent, then ACF Group LTD may proceed with the transaction in question. In the alternative if NCA refuse consent there then follows 31 calendar days in which NCA must seek a court order to seize the funds or the customer will be entitled to obtain the funds in question. If there are concerns whether a particular transaction should take place, then ACF Group LTD may also apply to NCA for a ‘defence’ which is essentially permission to complete the transaction. Under POCA, if a gambling operator has obtained a defence from NCA, then they are not committing any criminal offence by completing the transaction.
