# VSB 20 Art. 19 — Identification within the group - **Rubric (DE):** Konzerninterne Identifizierung - **Rubric (EN):** Identification within the group - **Chapter:** 2. Kapitel — Identifizierung des Vertragspartners (4. Abschnitt: Sonderformen der Identifizierung) - **Scope:** Banks & securities firms (incorporated via [[GwV-FINMA Art. 35 - Identification, controlling person and beneficial|GwV-FINMA Art. 35]]) - **Status:** In force (since 1 January 2020) ## Description Where a contracting partner has already been identified within the group in an equivalent manner, that is by applying a standard of care corresponding to this Agreement, a renewed procedure under Art. 9 to 16 is not necessary. In these cases the group units concerned must hold copies of the original identification files. Cases in which the statutory provisions do not permit this data transfer remain reserved. ## Context & interpretation The SBA commentary states that equivalence is assessed as at the time the business relationship was opened, that the relief applies only to existing contracting partners identified under the provisions applicable to them, and that the group unit may be domestic or foreign. It states that, according to current practice, the reservation relates in particular to the data protection and bank secrecy rules in the countries concerned; the contracting partner's consent is needed before a copy of the identification documents is passed to another group unit, and without it the identification must be repeated. ## FATF - [[FATF R.10 - Customer due diligence|FATF R.10]] — related: identification of the customer, here by reuse of an identification already carried out within the group. - [[FATF R.17 - Reliance on third parties|FATF R.17]] — related: identification already carried out by another entity is relied on instead of being repeated. ## Swiss counterparts - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 28 - Conditions for third-party engagement|GwV-FINMA Art. 28]] — related: Abs. 2 lit. a allows a unit within a group to be entrusted with the due diligence duties without a written agreement, provided an equivalent standard of due diligence is applied; that provision concerns entrusting the performance of duties, whereas VSB Art. 19 concerns not repeating an identification already carried out. - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 29 - Modalities of third-party engagement|GwV-FINMA Art. 29]] — related: Abs. 2 requires a copy of the documents to be kept in the intermediary's files and a written confirmation that the copies match the originals; VSB Art. 19 requires copies of the original identification files at the group units concerned and states no confirmation requirement. - [[VSB 20 Art. 43 - Delegation of identification duties|VSB 20 Art. 43]] — related: Abs. 4 provides that within a group the identification may be delegated without a written agreement. - [[GwG Art. 3 - Verification of the identity of|GwG Art. 3]] — statutory basis for identifying the contracting party. ## Related VSB articles - [[VSB 20 Art. 9 - Identification on face-to-face meeting|VSB 20 Art. 9]] — referred to in the article text - [[VSB 20 Art. 10 - Identification by correspondence|VSB 20 Art. 10]] — referred to in the article text - [[VSB 20 Art. 11 - Issuers of authenticity certifications|VSB 20 Art. 11]] — referred to in the article text - [[VSB 20 Art. 12 - Identification of registered entities|VSB 20 Art. 12]] — referred to in the article text - [[VSB 20 Art. 13 - Unregistered entities and authorities|VSB 20 Art. 13]] — referred to in the article text - [[VSB 20 Art. 14 - Age of register extracts|VSB 20 Art. 14]] — referred to in the article text - [[VSB 20 Art. 15 - Verifying persons opening relationships|VSB 20 Art. 15]] — referred to in the article text - [[VSB 20 Art. 16 - Simple partnerships and trustees|VSB 20 Art. 16]] — referred to in the article text ## Part of - [[VSB 20]] ## Further AMLR connections - [[AMLR Art. 16 - Group-wide requirements|AMLR Art. 16]] — AMLR Art. 16(3) requires group entities to share customer and beneficial-owner information relevant for CDD; VSB 20 Art. 19 is a reliance rule, not a sharing duty: no new identification of the contracting party is needed where the group already identified it to an equivalent standard and copies of the identification files are held, subject to legal limits on data transfer. *(related)* - [[AMLR Art. 48 - Reliance on third parties|AMLR Art. 48]] — Group-internal reuse of an identification already performed at an equivalent standard; group units must hold copies of the original identification files. No group-level supervision condition as in Art. 48(3)(c). *(related)* ## Sources - VSB 20 (Vereinbarung vom 13. Juni 2018, in force 1.1.2020), Art. 19 - SBVg Kommentar zur VSB 20 (2020), Art. 19