Frequently asked questions
This section provides information on money laundering and on the scale of the problem worldwide and in Canada.
1. What is money laundering?
Money laundering is the process whereby 'dirty money', produced through criminal activity, is transformed into 'clean money' whose criminal origin is difficult to trace. Criminals do this by disguising the sources, changing the form, or moving the funds to a place where they are less likely to attract attention.
The money earned from criminal activity (proceeds of crime) can originate from all kinds of designated offences. These include, but are not limited to illegal drug trafficking, bribery, fraud, forgery, murder, robbery, counterfeit money, stock manipulation, tax evasion, and copyright infringement.
If you are a reporting entity and money laundering is suspected through the processing of a financial transaction, FINTRAC needs to know.
2. What is terrorist financing?
Terrorist financing may involve funds raised from legitimate sources, such as personal donations and profits from businesses and charitable organizations, as well as from criminal sources, such as the drug trade, the smuggling of weapons and other goods, fraud, kidnapping and extortion.
3. What are threats to the security of Canada?
Threats to the security of Canada are defined in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act as:
- espionage or sabotage that is against Canada or is detrimental to the interests of Canada or activities directed toward or in support of such espionage or sabotage;
- foreign influenced activities within or relating to Canada that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive, or involve a threat to any person;
- activities within or relating to Canada directed toward or in support of the threat or use of acts of serious violence against persons or property for the purpose of achieving a political, religious or ideological objective within Canada or a foreign state; and,
- activities directed toward undermining by covert unlawful acts, or directed toward or intended ultimately to lead to the destruction or overthrow by violence of the constitutionally established system of government in Canada,
but does not include lawful advocacy, protest or dissent, unless carried on in conjunction with any of the activities referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d).
This section provides information on FINTRAC and its mandate. The section also provides warnings about fraudulent organizations using names similar to FINTRAC.
1. What is FINTRAC?
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) is an agency of the Government of Canada responsible for facilitating the detection, prevention and deterrence of money laundering, terrorist activity financing and other threats to the security of Canada.
FINTRAC receives reports from financial institutions and intermediaries, analyzes and assesses the reported information, and disclose suspicions of money laundering or of terrorist financing activities to police authorities and others as permitted by the Act. FINTRAC will also disclose to CSIS information that is relevant to threat to the security of Canada.
The analysis of information that FINTRAC receives from reporting entities facilitates the investigation and prosecution of money laundering offences and terrorist financing offences. FINTRAC's analysis is a vital tool to law enforcement, and strikes a balance between privacy and enforcement needs.
2. Are there any fees charged by FINTRAC?
FINTRAC DOES NOT charge fees of any kind. There are no service fees or charges to file a report with FINTRAC.
There have been reports of groups soliciting fees under names that resemble FINTRAC.
3. Does FINTRAC freeze funds?
FINTRAC DOES NOT freeze or seize funds.
There have been reports of groups soliciting fees under names that resemble FINTRAC.
4. Does FINTRAC issue clearance certificates to prove that funds are not related to criminal or terrorist activity?
FINTRAC does not issue clearance certificates for any reason. The Canadian government does not issue clearance certificates for the purpose of clearing funds under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. There is no government agency in Canada that issues such certificates for the purpose of clearing financial transactions for anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing.
There have been reports of groups soliciting fees under names that resemble FINTRAC.
5. Can FINTRAC provide confirmation that a reporting entity is in compliance with Canada's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing legislation?
No. FINTRAC does not provide certification, endorsement, accreditation or any other type of confirmation regarding a reporting entity's obligations under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
Privacy and Protection of Information
This section provides information on how FINTRAC protects the personal information of private citizens.
1. What does FINTRAC do with the reports it receives?
FINTRAC analyzes financial transaction reports in combination with publicly-available information, voluntary information provided by law enforcement, and other information to determine whether there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the information is relevant to the investigation or prosecution of a money laundering or terrorist financing offence. Once the appropriate thresholds are met, FINTRAC provides financial intelligence to partners including law enforcement and national security agencies to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and threats to the security of Canada.
As part of its mandate, FINTRAC must ensure that the personal information it receives is protected from unauthorized disclosure. Any unauthorized use or disclosure of information is prohibited and can result in severe penalties, including a fine of up to $500,000 or up to five years' imprisonment.
A financial transaction report is retained by FINTRAC for ten years. If it was not disclosed, it must be destroyed.
2. How does FINTRAC protect the personal information of private citizens?
FINTRAC is subject to the Privacy Act which strictly regulates how federal institutions can use and disclose personal information collected about individuals. In addition, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act stipulates that FINTRAC is to ensure that the personal information under its control is protected from unauthorized disclosure. The Act also sets out that information can only be disclosed to law enforcement where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the information would be relevant to investigating or prosecuting a money laundering offence or a terrorist activity financing offence, or to CSIS when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that it is relevant to threats to the security of Canada. Even in those circumstances, only "designated information" can be disclosed.
Finally, the Act stipulates that FINTRAC employees and contractors are subject to criminal penalties of up to 5 years in jail or a fine of $500,000 or both, for unauthorized disclosure or use of information.
3. Can I give you information on someone that I think is involved in something illegal?
If you believe that the information you have is serious and requires an immediate response, then you may wish to provide this information to your local police or to CSIS.
FINTRAC can only receive information from the public about suspicions of money laundering or suspicions of terrorist activity financing. For more information about this, see the page called "Providing voluntary information about suspicions of money laundering or of the financing of terrorist activities".
Reporting to FINTRAC and Other Obligations
This section provides information on submitting reports to FINTRAC, client identification, risk assessment, politically exposed persons and the intended use of accounts.
1. How do reporting entities make reports to FINTRAC?
Reports must be sent to FINTRAC electronically if the reporting entity has the technical capabilities to do so. The only exception is the terrorist property report, which can only be submitted on paper.
Where the technical capabilities do not exist for all the other reports, paper reporting is permitted.
FINTRAC's guidelines about each report provide details as to how they can be sent.
2. Do I have to report a suspicious financial transaction that was not completed?
You must report an attempted transaction if you have reasonable grounds to suspect that the attempted transaction is related to a money laundering or terrorist financing offence. An attempted transaction is one that a client intended to conduct and took some form of action. It would include negotiations or discussions to conduct a transaction and involve concrete measures taken by either you or the client. If you don't suspect that the attempted transaction is related to money laundering or terrorist financing, there is no reporting requirement.
3. What method may I use to ascertain the identity of a client located in a foreign country?
The most effective method to ascertain the identity of a client located in a foreign country is to use an agent that will verify your client's identity on your behalf. To use this method, you need a written agreement with the agent for client identification. You also need to get the identification information from the agent once the client has been identified. You can appoint anyone as an agent for client identification, provided you have a written agreement.
You can use the non-face-to-face identification methods to identify a person who is not physically present, but those methods might not apply for a client outside Canada.
4. Do I have to determine whether a corporate client is a politically exposed person (PEP) or the head of an international organization (HIO)?
No, you only have to make that determination for individuals. However, your risk assessment may result in you deciding to implement other processes for corporate clients that you assess as higher risk.
5. For how long is an individual considered to be a politically exposed foreign person (PEFP), politically exposed domestic person (PEP), or the head of an international organization (HIO)? Are they still a PEP or HIO once they have left office?
A person determined to be a foreign PEP is forever a foreign PEP. A person ceases to be a domestic PEP 5 years after they have left the office. Once a person is no longer the head of an international organization, that person is no longer a HIO. The same timing applies to family members and close associates of PEPs and HIOs.
6. Can a Canadian citizen be a PEFP?
Yes. A Canadian citizen who holds or has held a prescribed position on behalf of a foreign country would be considered a PEFP. For example, a Canadian citizen that works for a foreign embassy outside of Canada as an attaché of an ambassador would be considered a PEFP.
7. When recording a client's intended use of an account, how specific should I be?
The intended use of account is applicable to financial entities and securities dealers only.
Your records indicating the intended use of any given account (except for credit card accounts) should give a clear indication of what the client will be using the account for, so that you will be better able to detect deviations from typical account activity. Simply stating "chequing" or "savings" is insufficient. Acceptable examples might include savings for future payment of children's education; investments for retirement; to receive directly deposited employment or pension income; or to pay day-to-day expenses and bills. The intended use of account can be noted in an account operating agreement or other similar document; it does not have to be a separate record.
8. What is the time limit for sending reports to FINTRAC?
The reporting time limit depends on the type of report, as follows:
- Electronic funds transfer reports (EFTO/EFTI and EFTS) must be sent to FINTRAC no later than five working days after the day of the transfer.
- Suspicious transaction reports (STR) must be sent to FINTRAC no later than 30 calendar days from when you have determined that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction or attempted transaction is related to the commission of a money laundering or terrorist financing offence.
- Large cash transaction reports (LCTR) must be sent to FINTRAC no later than 15 calendar days after the day of the transaction.
- Casino Disbursement Reports (CDR) must be sent to FINTRAC no later than 15 calendar days after the day of the transaction.
9. Where can I get a copy of the reporting forms?
A file can be accessed and printed from the Publications section (see the left menu), under the heading "Reporting forms".
10. What is a terrorist property report?
Reporting entities must submit a terrorist property report if they have any of the following property in their possession or control:
- that they know is owned or controlled by or on behalf of a terrorist or a terrorist group; or
- that they believe is owned or controlled by or on behalf of a listed person.
This includes information about any of the property as well as any transaction or proposed transaction relating to that property.
In this context, property means any type of real or personal property.
11. How do I send a terrorist property report to FINTRAC?
There are two ways to send a terrorist property report to FINTRAC to get an acknowledgement of receipt.
- By fax: 1-866-226-2346
- By registered mail (postage is at your own expense):
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada
234 Laurier Avenue West, 24th Floor
Canada K1P 1H7
You can also send your report by regular mail to the FINTRAC address above, however, you will not receive any acknowledgement from FINTRAC when your paper report has been received.
12. Other than FINTRAC, is there anyone else to whom I must report terrorist property?
In addition to making a terrorist property report to FINTRAC about this type of property, there is also a requirement under the Criminal Code for anyone in Canada as well as Canadians outside of Canada to disclose, to the RCMP and CSIS, the existence of property in their possession or control that they know is owned or controlled by or on behalf of a terrorist or a terrorist group. This includes information about any transaction or proposed transaction relating to that property. Information is to be provided to them without delay as follows:
- RCMP, Anti-Terrorist Financing Team, unclassified fax: (613) 949-3113.
- CSIS Financing Unit, unclassified fax: (613) 231-0266.
- You may also have a requirement to provide information or to report to your regulator.
13. I have a client that purchased a $6,000 gold watch in cash followed by another cash purchase (of precious metals, precious stones or jewellery) of $5,000 four hours later, totaling $11,000 in cash. Are these transactions reportable as a large cash transaction?
Yes. Two or more cash transactions of less than $10,000 each that are made within 24 consecutive hours by, or on behalf of, the same person or entity and that total $10,000 or more are considered to be a single transaction of $10,000 or more. These two cash transactions have to be reported to FINTRAC as a large cash transaction and the 24-hour rule indicator under Part A of the report must be selected.
Administrative Monetary Penalties
This section provides information on administrative monetary penalties.
1. What are Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs)?
Administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) are civil penalties that may be issued in response to non-compliance with the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) and its regulations.
2. When did FINTRAC begin to issue AMPs?
FINTRAC has had the authority to issue AMPs since December 30, 2008.
3. Who is subject to an AMP?
All persons and entities that have obligations under the PCMLTFA can be subject to an AMP when in non-compliance with the PCMLTFA. However, an AMP is not an automatic response to non-compliance. FINTRAC is committed to working with reporting entities and will typically provide an opportunity to correct the non-compliant behaviour before an AMP is considered.
4. Can I receive an AMP on my first compliance examination?
An AMP may be issued following your first compliance examination if there are reasonable grounds to believe that you have violated a requirement of the Act and its regulations, and the non-compliance is extensive. However, an AMP is not an automatic response to non-compliance. FINTRAC is committed to working with you and will typically provide an opportunity to correct the non-compliant behaviour before an AMP is considered.
5. Will FINTRAC inform other regulators that a person or entity has committed violations and was issued an AMP under the PCMLTFA?
In the case where a person or an entity is also regulated by another body, FINTRAC may share information regarding the person's or the entity's compliance.
6. Why are there civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance? What is the difference?
Both types of penalty exist under the PCMLTFA but serve different purposes. A criminal penalty is meant to punish wrongdoing and can therefore include considerable fines, imprisonment or a combination of both. An AMP is meant to be proportionate to the related administrative violations and an incentive to take corrective action without being punitive. Under the PCMLTFA, FINTRAC cannot pursue both types of penalty at the same time; it must choose to proceed with a civil penalty or refer the case to law enforcement.
7. Can AMPs be issued against a specific person within a reporting entity or are AMPs only applied against the entity itself?
FINTRAC can only issue an AMP against the person or entity who is the subject of the requirements under the PCMLTFA. In the case of a corporation or partnership, it is the entity that is subject to the requirements under the PCMLTFA. In the case of a sole proprietorship, it is the owner of the business who is subject to those requirements.
8. If I have further questions about an AMP, who can I contact?
You can contact FINTRAC at 1-866-346-8722.
9. Will I or my business be notified before FINTRAC issues an AMP?
Following an examination, FINTRAC will issue a Findings letter which indicates whether the identified deficiencies will be considered for an AMP. All decisions related to a potential AMP will be communicated in writing. Should a penalty be issued, you will receive a Notice of Violation.
10. Does the AMP program change FINTRAC's approach to ensuring compliance?
The AMP program is an important tool that FINTRAC can use to address non-compliance. It provides flexibility for more proportionate and measured responses to non-compliance with the PCMLTFA.
11. Do other government agencies have the authority to issue AMPs?
Yes. AMPs are considered a useful instrument to ensure regulatory compliance. FINTRAC's AMP program is consistent with similar programs in other government agencies.
12. Can AMPs be issued for all non-compliance violations?
Yes. Any instance of non-compliance that is subject to an AMP is considered a violation. Violations are specifically designated in regulations.
13. If I come forward to voluntarily notify FINTRAC of non-compliance issues, would it be subject to an AMP?
FINTRAC encourages you to monitor your compliance with the requirements set out in the PCMLTFA and its regulations on a continuous basis. When issues arise in the course of these activities, FINTRAC should be notified of your concerns along with your corrective actions. Any compliance action taken will be in accordance with FINTRAC's notice on Voluntary self-declaration of non-compliance.
14. Can multiple penalties be applied for the same instance of non-compliance?
For a given instance of non-compliance, for example, the failure to report a large cash transaction, FINTRAC may proceed with an AMP or with a non-compliance disclosure to law enforcement. Proceeding in one manner prevents proceeding in the other. Therefore, multiple penalties cannot be applied for the same instance of non-compliance.
15. What if I cannot afford to pay the penalty?
The purpose of an AMP is to encourage compliance, not punish. Therefore, FINTRAC takes your specific circumstances into account. For example, if you cannot make payment for the full amount at once, you may qualify for a payment plan of 12 monthly instalments.
Reviews and Appeals
This section provides information on reviews and appeals of decisions made by FINTRAC concerning administrative monetary penalties or the registration of money services businesses.
1. How is a request for review submitted to FINTRAC?
You must file your request for review in writing with the Reviews and Appeals Unit at:
Reviews and Appeals Unit
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada
234 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1H7
Regular email and fax are not secure methods to transmit information and as such you should refrain from sending sensitive personal information through those means.
2. Can I provide explanations verbally instead of in writing?
FINTRAC can only process reviews that are made in writing. FINTRAC will not receive any oral submissions.
3. What information should my request for review include?
Your letter should provide enough information to identify the decision for which you are requesting a review and clearly state the reasons why you are requesting a review. You should also provide all relevant information you wish the review and appeal officer to consider as part of the review.
4. Can a lawyer prepare and submit a request for review on my behalf?
A lawyer or your legal representative may request a review on your behalf. FINTRAC will process the request submitted by your lawyer or legal representative if you submit a letter of authorization confirming the authority to act on your behalf in the review process.
General - Batch
1. What is batch reporting?Batch reporting is the submission of multiple reports in one file. To use this you have to create the batch file and format the information according to FINTRAC's specifications. For more information, refer to the Batch reporting page.
2. What steps do I need to take to start reporting by batch?
In order to report by batch, you must:
- Enroll with FINTRAC for electronic reporting (F2) - see F2R section for details;
- Apply for a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificate;
- Install the batch transmission software;
- Complete the batch certification process.
3. How do I apply for a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate with FINTRAC?
There are four steps in applying to FINTRAC for a PKI certificate:
- Step 1 – Complete the FINTRAC PKI subscriber agreement;
- Step 2 – Send the completed agreement to FINTRAC;
- Step 3 – Await application approval;
- Step 4 – Create and download a PKI certificate and download the reporting software.
4. What do I have to do to be able to start submitting by batch?
There are four steps to follow in order to use batch reporting.
- Step 1: Enroll with FINTRAC for electronic reporting (F2R) - see F2R section for details;
- Step 2: Apply for a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificate
- Step 3: Install the batch transmission software
- Step 4: Complete the batch certification process
For more information on batch reporting consult the following technical documentation:
- Standard Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications (for suspicious transaction reports, large cash transaction reports and non-SWIFT electronic funds transfer reports)
- SWIFT Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications (for SWIFT electronic funds transfer reports)
- XML Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications (for casino disbursement reports)
5. Are reports returned for further action (RRFAs) included in the acceptance testing (certification) process?No, RRFAs are not included in the certification process.
6. How will we know when we have successfully completed the batch acceptance test?You will be notified within 24 hours of having successfully completed the batch acceptance test. This means that you successfully submitted four out of your last five test files in a training channel for a particular report type, according to the process outlined in the batch reporting instructions and specifications. It also means that you can start to submit real batch files for that report type in the production channel.
General - Data Quality Issues
1. Will a reporting entity only get a report returned for further action (RRFA) when Compliance has looked at the error?Yes. An example of an RRFA is in the batch specification documents.
2. Will RRFAs be sent by email or through the batch transmitting software?An email will be sent to advise the reporting entity's F2R Administrator of the RRFA. Unless you have chosen to process corrections through F2R, the RRFA for a report submitted by batch will be sent through the batch transmitting software.
3. Are RRFAs provided for every kind of report?No. RRFAs are not provided for suspicious transaction reports (STRs). In the case of major STR quality issues, a FINTRAC Compliance Officer will contact the reporting entity.
If there is an error that needs to be corrected for an STR submitted by batch, a reporting entity can either submit a correction batch or, if they have chosen to process changes to batch reports through F2R, request the STR back through F2R to make corrections.
4. If we receive RRFAs for reports submitted by batch, would it be errors in the same batch file, or across a number of files?An RRFA message about reports sent by batch can contain information about one or more reports. If there is more than one report, these could have been submitted in more than one batch.
5. When we submit a 'correction' batch for suspicious transaction reports, large cash transaction reports or electronic funds transfer reports, can some of the records included be new reports?No. A 'correction' batch can only contain corrections and deletions for reports that were part of a previously accepted batch. To submit new suspicious transaction reports, large cash transaction reports or electronic funds transfer reports by batch, you must include them in an 'add' batch.
Please note that this does not apply to XML batch reporting.
6. If an accepted batch contains rejected reports or errors, would the reporting entity receive both an acknowledgement and an RRFA?Yes. If an accepted batch has rejected reports or reports with errors, you will receive an acknowledgement file explaining the errors. You may also receive an RRFA about those errors. In either case, you need to correct the errors and submit the corrected reports to FINTRAC.
7. Is the RRFA ID number in the RRFA message format unique?Yes. It is unique for each RRFA. Please note that XML batch reporting does not use tags.
8. I submitted a batch which was accepted by FINTRAC. However, one of the large cash transaction reports contained within it was rejected. I corrected the rejected report and submitted it alone in a new add batch. It was rejected again. Why?If you need to make changes to a large cash transaction report, a suspicious transaction report or an electronic funds transfer report contained in an accepted batch, you are required to submit a correction batch. If you submit a correction to a rejected report from an accepted batch in a new batch, the report will be rejected as our system will detect that it is a previously submitted report.
Please note that this does not apply to XML batch reporting.
9. I received an email stating that I need to correct reports I submitted to FINTRAC. How do I go about correcting the reports?
Log on to F2R and select "RRFA" in the Reporting section of the left menu. The reports that were returned for further action will be displayed. Select an entry to access the "RRFA summary" that will list all of the details for each report in the RRFA. A brief description explaining the error(s) is provided. The corrections will need to be made before that report can be resubmitted to FINTRAC.
When you are submitting the corrected report, you will also need to provide a short description of the corrections made.
If the returned reports were submitted by batch, the instructions above apply if you have chosen to process changes to batch reports in F2R. If not, the corrected reports would have to be submitted by batch.
10. I received reports returned for further action (RRFA). How long do I have to correct the reports?Make corrections to each report included in the RRFA and resubmit them to FINTRAC as soon as possible. If you do not correct the reports within 20 days, the system will automatically recall them and they will disappear from your queue in F2R, remaining unchanged.
11. I have already submitted a report to FINTRAC but need to make corrections. What do I do?To make the corrections or add information to a report, you will need to recall it. The Acknowledgements option allows you to search for reports that have been submitted to and received by FINTRAC. You must then select the check box for any report that you wish to recall for revisions. In a few minutes, the report in question will be available in the Requested for change report list. Select the "Requested for Change" heading under Reporting, in the left side menu of the F2R system. You will also be able to delete reports that were submitted in error through this process. For more information, please read the F2R User guide.
12. FINTRAC returned one of my reports for correction. Who can I call to get an explanation of the issue?Before calling FINTRAC for an explanation, be sure to read the explanation text in the RRFA message. A description of the issue is provided.
General - Format
1. In the general acknowledgement and RRFA layouts, are the transaction sequence and the disposition sequence the same as in the suspicious transaction reports and large cash transaction reports? There is a discrepancy in the size of the fields.Yes, these are part sequence numbers from the large cash transaction report or suspicious transaction report. Those fields are only two characters and you will only receive two characters for each of these fields in the acknowledgement or RRFA file. The rest of the field will be space-filled.
General - Reporting Entity Identifier Number
1. What is the reporting entity's identifier number?The "reporting entity's identifier number" is a numeric field required in the batch header and in each report included in a batch. This number is provided to the reporting entity by FINTRAC at enrolment.
General - Code Pages
1. Which code pages are accepted by FINTRAC?As described in section 4.1 of the SWIFT Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications as well as in section 4.1 of Module 1 of the Standard Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications, the ASCII code page 850 is the only code page accepted by FINTRAC for suspicious transaction, large cash transaction or electronic funds transfer reports.
As described in subsection 4.1.2 of Module 1 of the XML Batch Reporting Instructions and Specifications, the UTF-8 charset using code page 10646 is the default character encoding mechanism for casino disbursement reports.
2. How can we validate that the code page sent to FINTRAC is valid?Codes pages are validated at the batch file level and not at the report or character level. Therefore, it may be difficult to detect code page errors.
To help you determine if the code page used in your batch file is valid for suspicious transaction, large cash transaction or electronic funds transfer reports, it is recommended that you obtain a file editor that can open a file in a binary format. Such file editors may be found through an Internet search.
Once you have downloaded the file editor, you have to open the file using the file editor and interpret the results.
For casino disbursement reports, use the schema file provided to you by FINTRAC to validate your XML batch files prior to submitting them.
STR, LCTR and EFTO/EFTI Reports
1. What if we send a report for a new location that has not yet been entered in F2R?The report will be rejected (error code 411). The update of location information is a manual process for reporting entities.
2. What if we send a report for a location that has been closed?FINTRAC will accept a report for an inactive location, as it is assumed that the location was active when the transaction occurred.
3. If we report under the 24-hour rule, does the report have to contain more than one transaction?
- Large cash transaction reports
Groups of cash transactions of less than $10,000 each that you have to report because of the 24-hour rule should be in the same large cash transaction report, unless they were conducted at different locations.
- Electronic funds transfer reports
Groups of electronic funds transfers of less than $10,000 each that you have to report because de the 24-hour rule have to be reported in separate reports.
- Large cash transaction reports
4. Our information for non-SWIFT electronic funds transfer reports (EFTO/EFTI) provides time and date of transmission, not transaction. Is that acceptable?Yes, for EFTO/EFTI, you must provide the date and time of the electronic funds transfer.
5. What is the reporting entity report reference number?The "reporting entity report reference number" is a 20-digit alpha-numeric field required in reports submitted by batch. Each report submitted by your organization has to have a unique number. Reports will be rejected if this reference number is not included.
6. What is the reporting entity's location number?The "reporting entity's location number" is a 15-digit alpha-numeric field that is mandatory in reports submitted to FINTRAC. It is the unique identifier number assigned to each of your locations in F2R. You can view all of your locations in the F2R "Location" screens.
7. What is the time limit for making changes to reports that were already submitted to FINTRAC?
If you have to report a transaction to FINTRAC, you are required to submit a complete and accurate report within the applicable reporting time limits.
If you submitted a report to FINTRAC that was not complete and accurate at the time of submission, you can submit a correction for that report. For you to be compliant with the requirements, the correction should also be submitted within the reporting time limit. If you need to correct a report after that time limit has passed, you can still submit the correction, but do so as soon as possible.
The same applies to corrections required because of errors pointed out to you in the acknowledgement file or in the reports returned for further action (RRFA). If you need to submit corrections, you should do so within the reporting time limit for the report. If that deadline has passed, submit the correction as soon as possible.
SWIFT EFT Reports
1. Can SWIFT messages be reported through F2R?No. SWIFT EFT reports can only be submitted by batch.
2. Can SWIFT EFT reports be corrected through F2R?No. The only way to correct a SWIFT EFT report is through batch.
3. What information has to be included in Part B of a SWIFT electronic funds transfer (EFT) report?The following information about the client ordering the payment of the EFT (tag :50: of the SWIFT message) is required based on Schedules 2 and 3 of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations:
- Client's full name;
- Client's full address;
- Client's account number, if applicable.
This information is mandatory in an outgoing SWIFT EFT report, and requires reasonable efforts in an incoming SWIFT report. Although SWIFT allows its members to choose between three options to fill out tag :50:, (options A, F and K), only options F and K provide the information required in the report to FINTRAC.
Option F at tag :50: can also contain information that is not set out in Schedules 2 and 3. If you send or receive an MT 103 message with option F, you should remove any information that is other than client's full name, address and account number before submitting your report to FINTRAC.
For additional information, see the Guidance on Tag: 50: (Ordering Customer) sub-section of Electronic Funds Transfer What must be Reported?
- Date Modified: