AML and CTF law and regulation in Hungary

• Act LIII of 2017 on the Prevention and Combatting of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (the “AML Act”).
• Act LII of 2017 on the Implementation of Restrictive Measures imposed by the EU and the United Nations Security Council relating to liquid assets and other financial interests (the “Restrictive Measures Act”).
• Decree No. 21/2017 (VIII. 3.) of the Minister of the National Economy on the Mandatory Content of the Internal Policy to be Adopted under Act LIII of 2017 on the Prevention and Combatting of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and Act LII of 2017 on the Implementation of Restrictive Measures imposed by the EU and the United Nations Security Council relating to liquid assets and other financial interests.

Yes, the basic provisions of the 4^th AML Directive were implemented with the adoption of the AML Act. Additional amendments to the AML Act were adopted in December 2019, implementing the provisions of the 5th AML Directive.

The central authority in charge of receiving, analysing, disseminating suspicious transactions/activity reports is the Hungarian Financial Intelligence Unit, which is part of the organisation of the Central Management of the National Tax and Customs Administration (Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal, the “NAV”). The NAV performs its tasks in cooperation with other investigating authorities, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Courts Office. 

Other authorities authorised to supervise the performance of the obligations under the AML Act and the Restrictive Measures Act are: 

• the National Bank of Hungary acting within its function as the supervisory authority of the financial intermediary system (credit institutions, financial services institutions, institutions for occupational retirement provision, voluntary mutual insurance funds, operators accepting and delivering international postal money orders);
• the gaming supervisory authority regarding operators of casinos, card rooms, gambling services, online casino games;
• the Chamber of Hungarian Auditors regarding the providers of auditing services;
• in the case of lawyers and legal counsels registered in the bar association, the bar association in which the lawyer/legal counsel in question is registered (regional bar association); 
• in the case of notary publics, the association in which the notary public in question is registered (regional association of notaries);
• the authority for trade and commerce regarding the traders in precious metals or articles made of precious metals; traders in goods involving a cash payment of or exceeding HUF 3m; service providers trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of cultural goods (works of art/antiques); 
• the office provided for in the Act on Fiduciaries and on the Regulations Governing Their Activities regarding fiduciary managers;
• the NAV regarding providers of real estate agency or brokering and any related services; bookkeepers, tax experts, tax advisers, providers engaged in exchange services between virtual currencies and legal tenders, custodian wallet providers and providers of corporate headquarters services. 

The reporting entities are service providers pursuing several kinds of activities regulated by the AML Act as explained above in point 3. 

The KYC requirements in Hungary follow the requirements of the 4^th and 5^th AML Directives.

To facilitate the CDD obligations of the reporting entities, the AML Act provides for a general obligation on all entities, starting from 1 December 2020, to disclose their UBOs to the ‘Central register of beneficial ownership information’ pursuant to the 5th Directive. 

Yes, the legislation in various sectors, such as the financial services, real estate brokerage, law firms, etc. allows for the digital onboarding of customers, provided that the requirements for customer identification and customer verification under the AML Act are observed. 

The main obligations of reporting entities under the AML Act follow the 4^th and 5^th AML Directives. These include customer due diligence (identification and verification of the customer, the UBO and the person acting for and on behalf of the customer); the collection and storage of information and documents; continuously monitoring the business relationship; risk assessment and risk categorisation; operation of a screening system; the disclosure (reporting) of information on suspicious transactions/customers; decision on suspending transactions related to suspicious events; operation of an unanimous whistleblowing system and the provision of training for employees. There are no obligations that go beyond those required under the AML Directives.

The Hungarian National Risk Assessment was adopted in 2015 and updated in 2018. The main identified risks are: 

• organised crime;
• offshore companies;
• cash transfer services;
• lack of a central register of bank accounts;
• shell companies. 

The Restrictive Measures Act provides for the freezing of funds and other financial assets, and a prohibition on providing financial services. To fully implement the EU legal actions and United Nations Security Council resolutions imposing restrictive measures relating to liquid assets and other financial interests, the service provider must compare the personal data of the total clientele that it has on record with the data of the persons that appear in EU legal actions and relevant United Nations SC resolutions. If the result of screening establishes that a persons is subject to a restrictive measure relating to liquid assets or other financial interests, or his/her data coincides with the data of an entity or person on the consolidated list of effective restrictive measures imposed on the European Union or on the United Nations, the service provider must report this to the NAV.

Money laundering and terrorist financing are criminalised under the Hungarian Criminal Code as standalone crimes. The penalties for money laundering and financing terrorism provided in the Hungarian Criminal Code are imprisonment up to ten years, depending on the severity of the crime. Under the Hungarian Criminal Code any person who fails to comply with the reporting obligation prescribed by law concerning the prevention and combating of money laundering and terrorist financing is punishable by imprisonment up to two years.

If a legal entity has enriched itself through the proceeds of a crime committed by an employee or a director, it can be sanctioned with dissolution, restriction of activity or a minimum fine of HUF 500,000 (EUR 1,428) and a maximum of three times the value of the advantage obtained or to be achieved by the crime. 

The AML Act provides a range of measures and sanctions applied by the supervisory authorities for non-compliance or inadequate compliance with obligations set out in the AML Act. Fines and penalties vary depending on the type of the infringement, the type of the infringer (an individual or an entity), the feature of the infringement (whether it is initial, repeated or systematic) and can reach as high as HUF 2 billion (EUR 5,714,285), or up to 10% of the annual income according to the consolidated accounts. In the case of senior executives of service providers, a fine up to HUF 500,000,000 (EUR 1,428,000) (in the case of employees up to HUF 20,000,000 (EUR 57,142)) can be imposed, and additionally further measures can likewise be applied to the legal entity service provider if the director/employee of the service provider has committed the infringement for the benefit of the service provider. 

Prosecutions, convictions and administrative sanctions have been applied in recent years.