SENEGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Franck Olivier Allessie, SCP Houda & Associés
ferent categories are mandatory and cannot be reduced by the employer. Diversity Requirements There is no specific legislation on diversity on bank boards of directors, the role of women in bank management, equity and inclusion, or even on gender, ethnicity and sexuality. However, some banks include provisions in their internal policies to promote or eradicate certain issues that affect diversity within these companies. The Bankers’ Oath or Equivalent Binding Rules of Conduct for Bank Employees Articles 26, 27 and 28 of Law of 2008 establish strict prohibitions and rules of conduct for man - agers and employees of credit institutions, simi - lar to an oath of probity. The purpose of these provisions is to prevent anyone convicted of serious crimes (such as forgery, fraud, corruption or money laundering) from holding a manage - ment or executive position in a credit institution. • Prohibitions for managers (Article 26): any conviction for serious offences (eg, forgery, breach of trust, corruption) automatically entails: (a) a ban on directing, administering or man - aging a credit institution; (b) a ban on providing or offering financial services to the public; and (c) a ban on acquiring an interest in the capi - tal of a credit institution. These prohibitions also apply to foreign convic - tions and any complicity or attempt to commit similar offences. • Penalties for non-compliance (Article 27): anyone who contravenes these prohibitions is liable to one to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of XOF10-25 million.
• Prohibitions on employment in a bank (Arti - cle 28): any person convicted of the stated offences may not be employed in a credit institution. Failure to comply with this prohibi - tion exposes the employee to the penalties set out in Article 27 and the employer to a fine of between XOF25-50 million. These rules impose irreproachable conduct on bank managers and employees, with the aim of guaranteeing the reliability and integrity of credit institutions. The legislation in force in Senegal against mon - ey laundering is composed of national laws and community and international standards. In this regard, it should be noted that the reference national law in this regard is Law No 2018/03 of 23 February 2018 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, which trans - poses into domestic law the Uniform Anti-Money Laundering Bill adopted by Decision No 26/CM/ WAEMU of 2 July 2015 (the “AML/CFT Law”). Persons subject to AML/CFT obligations are listed in Articles 5 and 6 of the AML/CFT Law, including financial institutions. The AML/CFT Law introduced a risk-based approach, requiring financial institutions to have policies of procedures and internal controls to effectively mitigate and manage AML/CFT risks. Articles 23 and 24 of the AML/CFT Law impose several obligations, including: 5. AML/KYC 5.1 AML and CFT Requirements • the centralisation and retention of informa - tion on the identity of customers, principals, agents and beneficial owners;
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