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As enacted
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39. Replacement of section 33 of the principal enactment

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

Section 33 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following section is substituted therefor: -

33. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-

“account” means, any facility or arrangement by which an Institution-

(a)

accepts deposits of cash;

(b)

allows withdrawal of cash;

(c)

pays cheques or payment orders drawn on the Institution, or collects cheques or payment orders on behalf of a person other than the Institution; or

(d)

maintains safety deposit boxes or any other form of safe deposit, and includes any other similar business or professional relationship between an

Institution and its customers;

“authorized officer” means –

(a)

a Police Officer above the rank of an Assistant Superintendent of Police within the meaning of the Police Ordinance (Chapter 53); or

“Interpretation.

Financial Transactions Reporting

(b)

a Customs Officer above the rank of a Superintendent of

Customs appointed under the

Customs Ordinance (Chapter 235);

“bearer negotiable instruments” means, monetary instruments in bearer form complete or otherwise such as travellers’ cheques, cheques, bearer bonds, promissory notes, money orders and postal orders endorsed without restriction, made out to a fictitious payee or otherwise, or in such other form that the title thereto passes upon delivery;

“beneficial owner” means, a natural person-

(a)

who is a beneficial owner as defined in section 130j of the Companies Act,

No. 07 of 2007;

(b)

who holds an equivalent position to those referred to in subsection (1) of section 19a of the Trusts

Ordinance (Chapter 87)

in the case of a trust as defined in that Ordinance or any other legal arrangement similar to an express trust;

(c)

who, in the case where paragraphs (a) and (b)

do not apply, ultimately owns or controls, directly or indirectly, an entity or trust or other legal arrangement; or

(d)

on whose behalf a transaction in relation to an entity or trust or other legal arrangement is being conducted;

“cash” means any currency that is designated as legal tender in the country of issue and includes bearer negotiable instruments;

“cease-and-desist order” means an administrative sanction issued by the Head of Financial Intelligence

Unit prohibiting an Institution from continuing with a particular conduct or course of conduct in relation to any contravention or failure referred to in subsection (1)

of section 19;

“Central Bank” means the Central Bank of Sri Lanka established by the

Central Bank of Sri Lanka Act,

No. 16 of 2023;

“competent authority”

means any government agency empowered or entrusted with the responsibility

Financial Transactions Reporting of combating money laundering, terrorist financing or financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and includes the

Financial Intelligence Unit;

“currency” means, the currency of

Sri Lanka or that of a foreign country which is designated as legal tender and which is customarily used and accepted as a medium of exchange in the country of issue;

“customer” in relation to a transaction or an account includes –

(a)

the person in whose name a transaction or an account is arranged, opened or undertaken;

(b)

a signatory to a transaction or an account;

(c)

any person to whom a transaction has been assigned or transferred;

(d)

any person who is authorised to conduct a transaction; or

(e)

such other person as may be prescribed as a customer under section 29 of this Act in relation to a transaction or an account;

“designated non-finance businesses or professions” includes –

(a)

gambling and digital gambling as defined in the Gambling Regulatory

Authority Act, No. 17 of 2025;

(b)

real estate agents including property developers;

(c)

dealers in precious metals and dealers in precious and semi-precious stones, including but not limited to, metals and stones covered by the National

Gem and

Jewellery

Authority Act, No. 50 of 1993;

(d)

lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals or accountants, when they prepare for, or carry out transactions for their clients in relation to any one or more of the following activities: -

(i)

buying and selling of real estate;

(ii)

managing of client money, securities or other assets;

Financial Transactions Reporting

(iii)

management of bank savings or securities accounts;

(iv)

organization of contributions for the creation, operation or management of companies; and

(v)

creation, operation or management of legal persons or legal a r r a n g e m e n t s or the buying and selling of business entities;

(e)

trust or company service providers not otherwise covered by this definition, which as a business, provide any one or more of the following services to third parties:-

(i)

formation or management of legal persons or legal arrangements;

(ii)

acting as, or arranging for another person to act as, a director or secretary of a company, partner of a partnership, or a similar position in relation to other legal persons;

(iii)

providing a registered office, business address or accommodation, c o r r e s p o n d e n c e or administrative address for a company, partnership or any other legal person or legal arrangement;

(iv)

acting as a trustee or arranging for another person to act as a trustee of an express trust, or performing the equivalent function for any other form of legal arrangement;

or

(v)

acting as, or arranging for another person to act as, a nominee shareholder for another person;

(f)

any offshore unit of any business, profession or

Financial Transactions Reporting activity referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e), (g)

or (h) in accordance with the definition provided for such offshore unit in any other written law;

(g)

any person engaged in any businesses specified in paragraphs (a) to (f)

which shall be registered or licensed under the

Colombo

Port

City

Economic

Commission

Act, No. 11 of 2021; and

(h)

such other business as may be prescribed from time to time by the

Minister under section 29

of this Act;

“document” means any record of information, and includes –

(a)

anything on which there is writing;

(b)

anything on which there are marks, figures, symbols or perforations having meanings for persons qualified to interpret them;

(c)

anything from which sounds, images or writings can be produced, with or without the aid of anything else;

(d)

a map, plan, drawing, photograph or similar thing; and

(e)

any of the above kept or maintained in electronic means;

“Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence

Units” means, the united body of Financial Intelligence Units formed in 1995 providing member

Financial Intelligence Units with a platform to securely exchange expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and associated unlawful activities;

“electronic means”, includes information generated, sent, received or stored by electronic, magnetic, optical or similar capacities regardless of the medium;

Financial Transactions Reporting

“finance business” includes any one of the following businesses or activities: -

(a)

banking business as defined in the Banking

Act, No. 30 of 1988;

(b)

finance business as defined in the Finance

Business Act, No. 42 of 2011;

(c)

any one or more of the following business activities carried on by any society registered under the Cooperative

Societies Law, No. 5 of 1972 or established by a

Statute of any Provincial

Council governing the registration of cooperative societies: -

(i)

acceptance of deposits;

(ii)

lending of money;

(iii)

i n v e s t m e n t of money in any manner whatsoever; or

(iv)

lending of money and the investment of money in any manner whatsoever;

(d)

any financial activity carried on by a Samurdhi

Community Based Bank and Samurdhi Community

Based Banking Society established by the

Samurdhi Act, No. 1 of 2013;

(e)

pawn brokering under the

Pawn Brokers Ordinance

(Chapter 90);

(f)

lending, including consumer credit, mortgage credit, factoring (with or without recourse) and financing of commercial transactions;

(g)

financial leasing other than transactions relating to consumer products;

(h)

money or value transfer services;

(i)

money and currency changing services;

(j)

issuing and managing means of payment (i.e.

credit cards, debit cards, travellers’

cheques,

Financial Transactions Reporting money orders and bankers’

drafts and electronic money);

(k)

issuing financial guarantees and commitments, including but not limited to consumer credit, factoring (with or without recourse) and financing of commercial transactions including forfeiting;

(l)

trading for its own account or for the account of customers in money market instruments

(i.e. cheques, bills of exchange, certificates of deposit and derivatives), foreign exchange, exchange, interest rate and index instruments, commodity futures trading and transferable securities;

(m)

participating in securities issues and the provision of financial services related to such issues;

(n)

individual and collective portfolio management;

(o)

investing, administering or managing funds or money on behalf of other persons;

(p)

safekeeping and administration of cash or liquid securities on behalf of other persons;

(q)

safe custody services;

(r)

underwriting and placement of life insurance and other investment related insurance, as well as insurance intermediation by agents and brokers;

(s)

trustee administration or investment management of a superannuation scheme;

(t)

any activity of a market intermediary within the meaning of the

Securities and Exchange

Commission of Sri Lanka

Act, No. 19 of 2021;

(u)

any financial activity carried on under the Local

Treasury Bills Ordinance

(Chapter 417);

(v)

providing virtual assets services, subject to the

Financial Transactions Reporting provisions of any written law for the time being in force;

(w)

any offshore unit of any business or activity referred to in paragraphs (a) to (v), (x) or (y) in accordance with the definition provided for such offshore unit in any other written law;

(x)

any person engaged in any business specified in paragraphs (a) to (w)

which shall be registered or licensed under the

Colombo

Port

City

Economic

Commission

Act, No. 11 of 2021; and

(y)

such other business as may be prescribed from time to time by the

Minister under section 29

of this Act;

“Financial

Action

Task

Force”

means, the inter-governmental body established in 1989 that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

“financial intelligence” in the context of the

Financial

Intelligence

Unit, means, the output of its operational and strategic analysis based on available and obtainable information relating to any act of money laundering, terrorist financing or financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or any unlawful activity;

“foreign country” or “foreign state”

includes a colony, territory, protectorate or other dependency of a foreign country or foreign state, or a ship or an aircraft registered in such foreign country or foreign state, and shall be deemed to include the Hong Kong

Special Administration Region of the Peoples Republic of China;

“Government institution or agency”

includes a Ministry or Department of the Government, local authority, a Provincial Council, a Ministry or Department of any Provincial

Council, a public corporation, any business or other undertaking vested in the Government under any written law and a company registered or deemed to be registered under the Companies

Act, No. 07 of 2007 in which the Government or any public

Financial Transactions Reporting corporation or local authority holds more than fifty per centum of the shares of that company;

“Institution” means, any person engaged in or carrying out any finance business or designated non-finance business or profession within the meaning of this Act, but does not include the Supreme Court of the

Republic of Sri Lanka;

“law enforcement agency” means, any

Department, authority or entity empowered to investigate or prosecute any offence under any written law and includes any other person authorised by or under any written law to investigate into the commission of an offence;

“licensing authority” means, an authority established by or under any written law with powers to license

Institutions to carry on the relevant business or activity, but does not include the Supreme Court of the

Republic of Sri Lanka;

“local authority” means, any Municipal

Council, Urban Council, Town

Council or Village Council and includes any Authority created and established by or under any law to exercise, perform and discharge powers, duties and functions corresponding to or similar to the powers, duties and functions exercised, performed and discharged by any such Council;

“Minister” means, the Minister assigned the subject of, and functions relating to, this Act under Article 44 or 45 of the Constitution;

“money or value transfer services”

means-

(a)

exchanging cash or the value of money;

(b)

collecting, holding, exchanging or remitting funds or the value of money, or otherwise negotiating transfers of funds or the value of money, on behalf of other persons;

(c)

delivering funds; or

(d)

issuing, selling or redeeming travellers’

cheques, money orders or similar instruments, by means of any communication or message, or by way of transfer through a clearing network to which such service provider belongs;

“offence of financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”

Financial Transactions Reporting means any offence as specified in any regulation made under the

United Nations Act, No. 45 of 1968, giving effect to the United

Nations

Security

Council

Resolution on proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing or in any other written law giving effect to the

United Nations Conventions or the

United Nations Security Council

Resolutions on proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing;

“offence of money laundering” means an offence as defined in section 3 of the Prevention of Money

Laundering Act, No. 5 of 2006;

“offence of terrorist financing” means, an offence as defined in section 3 of the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing Act, No. 25

of 2005;

“operational analysis”

means, the use of available and obtainable information to identify specific targets

(such as persons, assets, criminal networks and associations), to follow the trail of particular activities or transactions, and to determine links between those targets and possible proceeds of crime, money laundering, terrorist financing, financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or unlawful activity;

“person” means, any natural or legal person and includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated in or outside Sri

Lanka, and a legal arrangement, whether it has legal personality or not, and a branch of such person or body of persons incorporated or established in or outside Sri Lanka;

“prescribed” means, prescribed by regulations made under this Act;

“property” means, assets of every kind, whether corporeal or incorporeal, moveable or immoveable, tangible or intangible, or virtual, and includes legal documents or instruments evidencing title to, or interest in such assets;

“Provincial

Council”

means, any

Provincial

Council established under

Article 154a of the

Constitution;

“public corporation”

means, any corporation, board or other body which was or is established by or under any written law other than the Companies Act, No. 07

of 2007, with funds or capital

Financial Transactions Reporting wholly or partly provided by the

Government by way of grant, loan or otherwise;

“qualified auditor” means –

(a)

an individual who, being a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, or of any other Institute established by law, possesses a certificate to practise as an

Accountant issued by the Council of such

Institute; or

(b)

a firm of Accountants, each of the resident partners of which, being a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Sri Lanka or of any other Institute established by law, possesses a certificate to practise as an

Accountant issued by the Council of such

Institute;

“record” means, any material on which data is recorded or marked and which is capable of being read or understood by a person, computer system or other device;

“registration authority”

means, an authority established by or under any written law with powers to register Institutions to carry on the relevant business or activity, but does not include the Supreme

Court of the Republic of Sri Lanka;

“regulatory authority”

means, an authority established by or under any written law with powers to regulate, or authorize and enforce standards and controls in relation to Institutions, but does not include the Supreme Court of the Republic of Sri Lanka;

“self-regulatory authority” means, an authority that regulates, supervises, monitors and oversees its members

(such as lawyers, notaries, other independent legal professionals or accountants) within any designated non-finance business or profession, but does not include the Supreme

Court of the Republic of Sri Lanka;

“specified individual or specified entity”

means –

(a)

an individual or entity that has knowingly –

(i)

committed;

(ii)

attempted to commit;

(iii)

participated in committing; or

(iv)

facilitated the commission of,

Financial Transactions Reporting any act connected to an offence in terms of any written law for the time being in force in Sri Lanka relating to terrorism; or

(b)

an individual or entity prescribed by the Minister assigned the subject of

Foreign Affairs in terms of regulations made under the United Nations Act,

No. 45 of 1968;

“strategic analysis” means, the use of available and obtainable information, including data that may be provided by other competent authorities, to identify money laundering, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction related trends and patterns;

“supervisory authority” means, any authority established by or under any written law to oversee or enforce compliance by Institutions with applicable written laws, but does not include the Financial

Intelligence Unit established under section 14a and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Sri Lanka;

“suspicious transaction report” means, a report required to be made under section 7 of this Act;

“terrorist act” shall have the same meaning as in the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist

Financing Act, No. 25 of 2005;

“transaction”

means, any activity, domestic or international, connected with any finance business or designated non-finance business or profession;

“transaction in relation to property”

includes-

(a)

a purchase, sale, loan, charge, mortgage, lien, pledge, transfer, delivery, assignment, subrogation, transmission, gift, donation, creation of a trust, settlement, deposit including the deposit of any article, withdrawal, transfer between assets, and extension of credit;

(b)

any agency or grant of power of attorney; and

(c)

any other disposition or dealing of property in whatever form, or whatsoever description or nature, howsoever described, which results in any right, title, interest or privilege, whether present

Financial Transactions Reporting or future, or whether vested or contingent, in the whole or any part of such property being conferred on any person;

“unlawful activity” shall have the same meaning as in the Prevention of

Money Laundering Act, No. 5 of 2006;

“virtual asset”

means, a digital representation of value that can be digitally traded or transferred and can be used for payment or investment purposes, but does not include any digital representation of fiat currencies, securities and other financial assets; and

“virtual assets service provider”

means, any person who provides, administers, manages or conducts one or more of the following activities or operations for, or on behalf of, another person: -

(a)

exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies;

(b)

exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets;

(c)

transfer of virtual assets;

(d)

safekeeping or administration of virtual assets or instruments enabling control over virtual assets; and

(e)

participation in, and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer or sale of a virtual asset.”.

Read on from s 40