Legal Audit of an Exchange Office

What is a legal audit of an exchange office and why undergo one?

A legal audit is a comprehensive review of your exchange office's compliance with the law – in particular the Act on Bureau-de-Change Activity, the AML Act, the Consumer Protection Act and related regulations. The aim is to identify and remedy deficiencies before the Czech National Bank finds them during an inspection or a test purchase.

An audit pays off especially:

• before opening new premises;
• when taking over an existing exchange office (purchase of a share or of the business) – as legal due diligence;
• if you have not updated your documentation for a long time (internal AML policy, rate list, pre-contractual information);
• after staff changes at the premises;
• if the CNB has announced an inspection or is inspecting in your area.

What do we review during the audit?

• corporate basics – the licence, the entry in the register of operators, the scope of business in the Commercial Register, notified premises, the beneficial owners register;
• the premises – the exchange rate list and its particulars under Section 11, visibility and legibility of information, information duties towards customers;
• transaction documentation – pre-contractual information, receipts, withdrawal notices, the reversal process;
• AML compliance – the internal policy and risk assessment (up-to-dateness and consistency with practice), customer identification and due diligence, PEP and sanctions screening, staff training, records, reporting to the FAÚ;
• reporting – compliance with the DEV (ČNB) 26-04 reporting and notification duties;
• consumer and other duties – the complaints process, data protection (GDPR), whistleblowing.

What do you get out of the audit?

The output is a written report with findings ranked by severity, specific recommendations and a proposed remediation timeline. On request, we will remedy the identified deficiencies right away – update the documents, fix the rate list, complete the records and train your staff.

Where to next?

• Preparing for a CNB inspection
• AML obligations of an exchange office
• Duties of a bureau-de-change operator
• Whistleblowing policy