Exhibit 41A ~ Fbme Bank
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EXHIBIT 41A ~ FBME BANK 1 28 h September 2015 Via E-mail & By Hand Ms. Chrystalla Georghadji Governor Central Bank of Cyprus 80 Kennedy Avenue Nicosia 1076 Madam, Subject: On-site inspection of FBME Bank Ltd Cyprus Branch's procedures for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing - The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities Law of 2007 We have been provided a copy of the Letter (the "Letter") of the Central Bank of Cyprus (the "CBC") dated 18 September 2015, addressed to Mr Andrew Andronikou - Special Administrator of the Cyprus Branch ("Cyprus Branch" or "Branch") of FBME Bank Ltd (also referred to as "Bank"). This letter relates to the on-site inspection by the CBC with the collaboration of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, of the procedures for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing adopted by the Cyprus Branch of FBME Bank Ltd. The Letter covers nine subject matter areas as follows: 1. Risk Management Systems 2. Compliance Unit 3. Customer identification and due diligence procedures 4. AML IT System and Monitoring of Transactions 5. EU Regulation 1781/2006 on information on the payer accompanying transfers of funds (Electronic Funds Transfer) 6. Record Keeping 7. Staff awareness and training 8. Suspicious transaction recording 9. Internal control procedures As the CBC will hopefully agree with us, globally recognised AML principles are meant to be preventive and are aspirational in nature, and as such are constantly evolving to addressing constantly changing areas of risk. This is noted very clearly in Section 3.3 ("High level findings on the level of compliance with the Cyprus Legal Framework") of the Report by Deloitte Page 11 FBME Bank Ltd Head Off1ce FBME HOUSE, 85 Block K, Kmondom Road P 0 Box 8298 DarEs Salaam Tanzania Tel +255 22 2664761/2 Fax: +255 22 2664763 e-ma11 headoff1ce@fbme com www.fbme com Financial Advisory S.r.l. ("Deloitte Italy") produced for the CBC, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Cyprus (the "MoF") and the TROIKA of the International Monetary Fund ("IMF"), European Central Bank ("ECB") and the European Commission ("EC") in April I June 2013. As Deloitte Italy further notes in Section 3.3 of its Report " ... The practical impact is that in our extensive experience, no Institution can be expected to have a 100% perfect compliance record. In fact, on the basis of our experience, it is uncommon to find institutions in any jurisdiction that achieve 100% compliance across all customers, especially in jurisdictions where the AML legal framework has been enhanced relatively recently. Another key component of AML requirements is that they are meant to be "risk based" to allow a financial institution to focus on mitigating areas of greatest risk as determined by each institution's range of products and services, as well as unique customer base ... ". FBME Bank Ltd considers that it has strived to have in place an Anti-Money Laundering culture, framework, policies and procedures, which, on a risk-based approach and under the overall guidance of its Senior Management and Board of Directors, focuses on the substance of anti money laundering principles, legislation and directives to eliminate the risk of the Bank being used for financial crime purposes. We do not therefore agree to the assertion of the CBC stated on page 2 of the Letter that the failings of the Branch are considered serious and systemic. Furthermore, we question why the CBC has omitted to benchmark findings from its on-site investigation at our institution versus findings at other Cyprus banking institutions as set out in: i. the Third Party Anti-Money Laundering Assessment of the Effective Implementation of Customer Due Diligence Measures with regards to Cyprus Deposits and Loans, issued by Deloitte Italy on behalf of the CBC and addressed to the CBC, the MoF and TROIKA in April and June 2013 (Attached) and ii. the Special Assessment of the Effectiveness of Customer Due Diligence Measures in the Banking Sector in Cyprus prepared by the team of international experts under the auspices of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism ("MONEYVAL") in response to a request by the President of the Eurogroup Working Group, dated April 2013 (Attached) In addition to our rejection of the assertion that the points raised by the CBC in the Letter constitute potentially serious and systemic matters in the AML framework, we also consider that the omission of the CBC to have regard to the practices in the banking sector of Cyprus, documented in the Reports by Deloitte Italy and MONEYVAL, potentially points to a purposefully distinctly different handling of the Bank and the Branch by the CBC versus peers. This further augments our view that the CBC and the Republic of Cyprus at large are in breach of the Bilateral Investment Treaty to the investment protection treaty between Cyprus and Lebanon. As a matter of record, we need to also record the following: i. The Letter of the CBC is addressed to the Special Administrator, appointed by the Resolution Authority comprising effectively the CBC. This for us constitutes a Page I 2 FBME Bank Ltd. Head Off1ce FBME HOUSE 85 Block K, Kinondon1 Road. P 0 Box 8298 DarEs Salaam, Tanzan1a Tel· +255 22 2664761/2 Fax: +255 22 2664763 e-mail· headoff1ce@fbme com www fbme com detrimental handling of the Bank, its shareholders and the Branch. We question under what legal provision and to whom the Special Administrator has responsibility in responding to the CBC's findings set out in the Letter, and whether the Special Administrator would act, given his appointment by the Resolution Authority, to the best interests of the Bank and its stakeholders (including shareholders and employees). ii. We further question as to whether the Special Administrator is in a capacity to respond to the Letter, given that his primary well-publicised task to date has been the effective liquidation I sale of the Branch. iii. The on-site investigation was conducted between June to September 2014. We wonder if the matters raised in the Letter were of such important and systematic nature why the CBC did not see the reason for expedited communication to the Bank and the Branch and only does so after 12 months. It is also quite peculiar to note that despite the letter taking 12 months to be prepared after the on-site investigation, the CBC sets a framework of 7 days for a response. iv. We are concerned why the Letter has not been shared with the Bank's Regulator in Tanzania. v. There is no information set out in the Letter with respect to the Terms of Engagement of PriceWaterhouseCoopers and their relevant obligations, including whether they have issued a formal report on their work to the CBC. The Bank and the Branch reserve fully their rights in this respect. vi. Crucially, the Report: a. Fails to specify any specific cases I transactions where the Branch was used for facilitating money laundering; b. Despite the action by FINCEN (admittedly of much more serious business impact to the Bank and for which legal proceedings have been initiated by the Bank in the United States of America) the CBC fails to comment in the Letter on any of the matters that FINCEN raise in their notice of findings. We wonder why the CBC has determined that the FINCEN matters should not be addressed and what its position on those matters is. It is the position of the shareholders and management of the Bank and the Branch that our institution has always adopted a culture, policies and procedures for limiting and managing the risk of the Bank and the Branch being used for money laundering purposes. The Board of Directors and Senior Management of our institution have constantly placed emphasis on adhering to best global AML practices and to implementing the substance of the local AML legislation and CBC Directive, fostering at the same time a process and attitude of continuous improvement. Having mentioned all the above, we believe that the attitude of our Cyprus regulators are for the least incomprehensibly vindictive and unfair. Page I 3 FBME Bank Ltd, Head Off1ce FBME HOUSE, 85 Block K, Kinondoni Road. P.O. Box 8298 DarEs Salaam, Tanzania Tel: +255 22 2664761/2 Fax: +255 22 2664763 e-mail: headoff1ce@fbme com www fbme com Our team remain available to discuss our responses in detail with you and to offer any other explanations and clarifications that you may require. Sincerely Fadi M. Saab Chief Executive Director --==--~~· __x_~- cc: The Board of Directors of Central Bank of Cyprus Bank of Tanzania Statutory Manager- FBME Bank limited Page I 4 FBME Bank Ltd Head Office FBME HOUSE, 85 Block K, Kinondon1 Road, P.O Box 8298. DarEs Salaam, Tanzania Tel: +255 22 2664761/2 Fax: +255 22 2664763 e-mail headoffice@fbme com www.fbme.com FBME Bank Limited reply to CBC letter of 18 September 2015 This is the reply (the “Reply”) of FBME Bank Limited (the “Bank”) to the report of the Central Bank of Cyprus (the “CBC”) regarding the “onsite inspection of FBME Bank Ltd Cyprus Branch’s (the “Branch”) procedures for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing – the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities Law of 2007” dated 18 September 2015 (the “Report”). References to the “Law”, the “CBC Directive” and the “EU Regulation” are as defined in the Report. Reference to the “MONEYVAL Report” means the MONEYVAL report “Special Assessment of the Effectiveness of Customer Due Diligence Measures in the Banking Sector of Cyprus” of 24 April 2013, (an initiative that the Bank welcomed and that included the Bank during its audit activity).