Third Party Trust Principle

The Third Party Reliance Principle is an important concept in the financial crime prevention framework. This principle states that financial institutions may rely on third parties in certain circumstances, and that the identity verification and risk assessment work performed by these third parties in the customer identification process may be considered valid.

Many financial institutions today rely on third parties to verify the identity and assess the risk of their customers when establishing or maintaining customer relationships. For example, financial institutions may seek assistance in verifying identity documents from private companies or government agencies that provide identity verification services.

The Trust in Third Parties Principle states that financial institutions can rely on these third parties in this verification and assessment process. In this way, financial institutions can perform customer identity verification and risk assessments by using their own resources more efficiently.

However, the Trust in Third Parties Principle is not a completely trust-based approach for financial institutions. Financial institutions should conduct an appropriate assessment and evaluate the competence and reliability of third parties before relying on them. In addition, financial institutions should comply with legal regulations and KYC (Know Your Customer) policies and effectively manage their cooperation under this principle.

The Third Party Trust Principle can make financial institutions' customer identification process more efficient and allow them to use their resources more effectively. However, it is important for financial institutions to be careful in their cooperation based on this principle and to implement the necessary supervision and controls. In this way, effectiveness in combating financial crimes can be ensured and the reliability of the financial system can be enhanced.

Financial institutions may establish a business relationship with a customer by relying on measures taken by another financial institution to identify the customer, the person acting on behalf of the customer and the real beneficiary and to obtain information about the nature of the business relationship. 

In this case, the ultimate responsibility under the legal regulations belongs to the financial institution that performs the transaction by relying on the third party.

Relying on the third party;

The third party has taken other measures to ensure identification, retention of records and other measures to meet the requirements of the customer identification rule, 
In case of a non-resident, it is also subject to regulations and audits in accordance with international standards in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, 
Certified copies of identification documents will be made available immediately upon request from the third party, 
provided that the third party can be trusted.

The principle of trust in the third party does not apply if the third party is based in risky countries.