# AMLR Art. 36 — EDD correspondent relationships - **Part of:** [[AMLR]] - **FATF keying:** [[FATF R.13 - Correspondent banking|FATF R.13]] - **Swiss provisions:** [[GwV-FINMA Art. 37 - Correspondent banking with foreign banks|GwV-FINMA Art. 37]] - **Detailed citation:** GwV-FINMA Art. 37 ## What it requires For cross-border correspondent relationships with a third-country respondent institution, credit and financial institutions must, on entering the relationship: gather enough information to understand the respondent's business, reputation and supervision quality; assess its AML/CFT controls; obtain senior-management approval before establishing the relationship; document each institution's respective responsibilities; and, for payable-through accounts, confirm the respondent has verified and monitors customers with direct account access and can supply their due-diligence data on request. AML/CFT-driven terminations must be documented. ## Swiss position GwV-FINMA Art. 37 applies the ordinance's general provisions to correspondent-bank relationships (except Art. 28 Abs. 2 Bst. b), requires the intermediary to obtain assurance that the foreign respondent bank may not enter relationships with shell banks, and requires clarification - beyond the Art. 15 general duties - of the respondent's own AML/CFT controls, calibrated to whether the respondent is adequately supervised and regulated. It further requires the intermediary to ensure payment-order information is complete and forwarded, with a risk-based procedure for repeated incomplete orders. ## Key divergences Both regimes require enhanced clarification of the respondent institution's AML/CFT controls and supervisory quality (AMLR Art. 36(a)-(b); GwV-FINMA Art. 37 Abs. 3). AMLR Art. 36(c)-(d) explicitly requires senior-management approval before establishing a new correspondent relationship and documentation of each institution's respective responsibilities; GwV-FINMA Art. 37 does not itself restate either duty, though correspondent relationships with foreign banks are separately per se higher-risk under Art. 13 Abs. 3 Bst. c, which draws in the general Art. 18-19 senior-management-approval requirement for higher-risk relationships. GwV-FINMA Art. 37 has no counterpart to AMLR Art. 36(e) on payable-through accounts; its Abs. 2 (shell banks) corresponds rather to AMLR Art. 39. ## Further connections *These links come from an article-by-article comparison of the primary texts. They add to the provisions listed at the top of this note and make no equivalence claim.* - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 13 - Higher-risk business relationships|GwV-FINMA Art. 13]] — GwV-FINMA Art. 13(3)(c) only classifies relationships with foreign banks for which the Swiss intermediary handles correspondent banking as always higher-risk; AMLR Art. 36 itself prescribes specific enhanced measures for cross-border correspondent relationships with third-country respondent institutions (banks and other financial institutions). *(related)* - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 19 - Senior management responsibility for higher|GwV-FINMA Art. 19]] — Both require senior-level approval before a correspondent relationship starts; in Switzerland the duty arises via the Art. 13(3)(c) classification (foreign banks) and rests with the top management body or one of its members, whereas AMLR "senior management" can include sufficiently senior officers and employees. *(direct)* - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 18 - Entering higher-risk business relationships|GwV-FINMA Art. 18]] — GwV-FINMA Art. 18 requires approval before opening any higher-risk relationship, which includes correspondent relationships with foreign banks; it is a general rule and for those relationships Art. 19 raises the approver to the top management body. *(related)* ## Authoritative text > [!quote]- Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 (AMLR), Article 36 — English text (EUR-Lex, CELEX 32024R1624) > **Article 36** > *Specific enhanced due diligence measures for cross-border correspondent relationships* > With respect to cross-border correspondent relationships, including relationships established for securities transactions or fund transfers, involving the execution of payments with a third-country respondent institution, in addition to the customer due diligence measures laid down in Article 20, credit institutions and financial institutions shall, when entering into a business relationship, be required to: > (a) gather sufficient information about the respondent institution to understand fully the nature of the respondent’s business and to determine from publicly available information the reputation of the institution and the quality of supervision; > (b) assess the respondent institution’s AML/CFT controls; > (c) obtain approval from senior management before establishing new correspondent relationships; > (d) document the respective responsibilities of each institution; > (e) with respect to payable-through accounts, be satisfied that the respondent institution has verified the identity of, and performed ongoing due diligence on, the customers having direct access to accounts of the correspondent institution, and that it is able to provide relevant customer due diligence data to the correspondent institution, upon request. > Where credit institutions and financial institutions decide to terminate cross-border correspondent relationships for reasons relating to AML/CFT policy, they shall document their decision. ## Sources - AMLR Art. 36 — CELEX 32024R1624 - GwV-FINMA SR 955.033.0, Art. 37