AML Act

The company REWIN reality, s.r.o., with its registered seat at Bajkalská 2C, 831 04 Bratislava, ID No.: 51 305 607 (hereinafter the “company”), provides real estate brokerage services, in particular the brokerage of sale, purchase and rental of properties and related advisory services including financing.

In the course of its business activities, the company is obliged to comply with the duties laid down by Act No. 297/2008 Coll. on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, as amended (hereinafter the “AML Act”), as well as with the relevant European Union legislation, in particular Directive (EU) 2015/849 (4th AML Directive) and Directive (EU) 2018/843 (5th AML Directive).

The purpose of this document is to inform the company’s clients of the rights and obligations arising from the AML Act that apply to real estate brokerage services, and of the company’s procedure for fulfilling its statutory duties.

REWIN reality, s.r.o. is an obliged entity within the meaning of Section 5 (1) (i) of the AML Act as a person authorised to broker the sale, rental and purchase of properties (real estate agency under Act No. 455/1991 Coll. on Trade Licensing).

As an obliged entity, the company is required in particular to:

• carry out client due diligence (identification, verification of identification, ascertaining the purpose and nature of the transaction),
• identify the beneficial owner,
• assess whether the transaction being prepared or executed is an unusual business operation,
• report unusual business operations to the Financial Intelligence Unit (hereinafter the “FIU”),
• retain the data and documents obtained in the performance of duties under the AML Act,
• draw up and update its own activity programme aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.

The company is required to carry out client identification and verification of identification before executing a transaction or entering into a business relationship (Section 10 (1) of the AML Act).

Identification is mandatory in the following cases:

• upon entering into a contract for the brokerage of the sale, purchase or rental of a property,
• in any transaction or business relationship in which the value of the transaction reaches or exceeds EUR 15,000, including where the transaction is split into several interlinked operations (Section 10 (1) (b) of the AML Act),
• in any case where there is suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing, regardless of the value of the transaction (Section 10 (1) (d) of the AML Act),
• where there are doubts as to the truthfulness or completeness of previously obtained identification data.

When identifying a natural person, the company ascertains:

• first name, surname, birth number or date of birth,
• address of permanent or other residence,
• nationality,
• type and number of the identity document.

When identifying a legal person, the company ascertains:

• business name, registered seat, identification number (ID No.),
• the designation of the official register or other official record in which the legal person is registered and the registration number,
• identification data of the natural person authorised to act on behalf of the legal person.

Identification is carried out in the physical presence of the person being identified, by presentation of a valid identity document (identity card, passport) and by verification of the data contained therein (Section 8 of the AML Act).

The company is required to identify the beneficial owner of the client and to take reasonable measures to verify their identification (Section 6a of the AML Act).

Under Section 6a (1) of the AML Act, a beneficial owner is any natural person who effectively owns or controls a legal person, a natural person — entrepreneur or a pool of assets, and any natural person for whose benefit those entities carry out their activities or transactions. A beneficial owner is in particular:

• a natural person who has a direct or indirect interest, or the sum of such interests, of at least 25% of the voting rights or the registered capital of a legal person,
• a natural person who has the right to appoint, otherwise instate or remove the statutory body, management body, supervisory body or control body,
• a natural person who controls a legal person in another manner,
• a natural person for whose benefit special-purpose pools of assets (trusts, foundations, etc.) have been established or operate.

When identifying the beneficial owner, the company uses in particular data from the Register of Public Sector Partners, the Commercial Register, the Register of Financial Statements and other publicly available registers.

The company is required to assess whether a transaction being prepared or executed is an unusual business operation (Section 4 of the AML Act).

An unusual business operation is a transaction which, by its nature, complexity, volume, unusualness or atypicality, differs from ordinary transactions, or a transaction in respect of which there are grounds for suspicion that it is connected with money laundering or terrorist financing.

Examples of unusual business operations in real estate practice:

• the client requests payment of the purchase price or a substantial part of it in cash,
• the value of the property is disproportionately high or low compared to usual market prices,
• the client refuses to provide identification data or to present documents,
• the client is clearly acting on behalf of another person whom they refuse to identify,
• the transaction has no apparent economic or legal purpose,
• the client shows disproportionate interest in the conditions under which the company would not be required to fulfil the reporting obligation,
• the client carries out multiple transactions over a short period which individually do not exceed the EUR 15,000 threshold but exceed it in aggregate,
• the client is a person from a country which insufficiently applies measures against money laundering or terrorist financing (high-risk third countries on EU lists).

If an unusual business operation is detected, the company is required to report this fact without undue delay to the Financial Intelligence Unit (Section 17 of the AML Act). The company must not inform the client or any third parties of the report (Section 20 of the AML Act).

For the proper fulfilment of the company’s duties under the AML Act, the client is required to provide the company with the necessary cooperation, in particular by:

• presenting a valid identity document (identity card, passport) for the purposes of identification and verification of identification,
• providing truthful and complete identification data about themselves and, where applicable, the represented person,
• stating whether they are acting in their own name or on behalf of or for the benefit of another person, and in that case providing data on the represented or authorised person as well,
• informing the company of the beneficial owner where the client is a legal person or a special-purpose pool of assets,
• providing information on the source of funds used for the transaction, where requested by the company,
• providing further information and documents necessary for the fulfilment of duties under the AML Act.

The company is required to refuse to enter into a business relationship or to refuse to carry out a transaction if (Section 15 of the AML Act):

• the client refuses to prove their identity or to provide the cooperation necessary for identification,
• it is not possible to carry out client identification or verification of identification,
• the client refuses to state on whose behalf or for whose benefit they are acting,
• it is not possible to identify the beneficial owner,
• there is a suspicion that the transaction is connected with money laundering or terrorist financing.

In the case of an existing business relationship, the company is, on the same conditions, entitled to terminate that business relationship.

Refusing to carry out a transaction or terminating a business relationship on the grounds set out in the AML Act does not constitute a breach of the company’s contractual or statutory duties and does not give rise to any right of the client to compensation for damage.

Personal data obtained in the fulfilment of duties under the AML Act is processed by the company on the basis of a legal obligation within the meaning of Article 6 (1) (c) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data (GDPR), in conjunction with the AML Act.

The company is required to retain the data and documents obtained for the purposes of the AML Act for a period of five years from the termination of the business relationship or from the execution of the transaction (Section 19 (1) of the AML Act).

Data obtained for the purposes of fulfilling AML duties must not be used for any other purpose than that for which it was obtained, except in cases provided for by law.

The company adopts appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the protection of personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse or destruction.

For more detailed information on the processing of personal data, please see the Privacy policy section.

If you have any questions regarding the fulfilment of duties under the AML Act, you may contact the company:

Supervisory authority: The authority overseeing the fulfilment of obliged entities’ duties under the AML Act is the Financial Intelligence Unit of the National Crime Agency of the Presidium of the Police Force (Section 26 of the AML Act).