The procedure for opening accounts remotely has been approved.
Modern.az reports that the relevant decision signed by the Chairman of the Central Bank, Taleh Kazimov, on December 15, 2025, came into force on March 30, 2026.
Thus, these Rules define the procedure for opening accounts remotely in credit institutions, investment companies, the national postal operator, payment organizations (with the exception of payment organizations exclusively providing intermediary services for payment transactions and/or information services for accounts), as well as electronic money institutions (hereinafter – supervised entities).
When a joint account is opened remotely for two or more persons, the requirements of these Rules apply to each of those persons individually.
Key Concepts
The key concepts used in these Rules have the following meanings:
The concept of "enhanced electronic signature" used in these Rules expresses the meanings defined by the Law "On Electronic Signature and Electronic Document".
Other concepts used in these Rules express the meanings defined in other normative legal acts and acts of a normative nature.
Remote Account Opening
When opening an account remotely, the information technologies used by the supervised entity, including the information system and software, must comply with the requirements defined by the Law "On Personal Data" and other legal acts.
Remote account opening for clients who are natural persons is not permitted through any authorized representative other than parents, adoptive parents, or guardians acting as legal representatives, and for clients who are legal entities, other than their legal representative.
If the supervised entity sets limits for remotely opened accounts, the client must be informed about this, and these limits must be observed when opening the account.
The supervised entity must provide the person it serves with the option to restrict remote account opening upon their written request. The relevant restriction can only be lifted based on a written request submitted by that person with their physical presence at the supervised entity.
Submission of Application
For remote account opening, the client submits an electronic application to the supervised entity.
Except for the cases provided in the paragraph below, the information and documents required by legislation for opening an account must be submitted to the supervised entity based on the client's application. When information and documents are submitted in electronic form, the information must be confirmed with the client's enhanced electronic signature, and the documents with the enhanced electronic signature of the persons who prepared them; when submitted on paper, they must be in original or a copy certified in accordance with legislation.
In the following cases, the client is not required to submit information and documents to the supervised entity:
Based on the obtained information and documents, the supervised entity carries out verification measures in accordance with the CDD Rules and conducts a risk assessment in accordance with the supervised entity's internal rules. Cases of termination of the process depending on the results of the risk assessment are determined by the supervised entity's internal rules.
Based on the obtained information and documents, the supervised entity verifies the client's legal capacity, authority, and enhanced electronic signature in accordance with legislation.
Person Identification
Before the formation of business processes and control mechanisms for the application of person identification requirements defined by these Rules, the supervised entity takes measures, including relevant security measures, for the analysis of operational and compliance risks and their effective management.
Before person identification, the client is familiarized by the supervised entity with the rules and established conditions for conducting identification, and written consent is obtained for the collection and processing of personal data required by law for account opening, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Personal Data".
In accordance with the "Submission of Application" section of these Rules, the person identification process is initiated for individuals who have undergone the relevant procedures.
Person identification is carried out by applying one or more of the following methods, based on internal rules approved by the supervised entity, taking into account a risk-based approach:
The supervised entity must obtain relevant images as a result of photo capture, video recording, or video call. The images must comply with the following requirements:
The video call is conducted in real-time and continuously.
During the person identification process, methods detecting the liveness of the natural person must be used. Liveness verification must be carried out via software. To ensure that the person is a living human, they are required to perform a minimum of 3 actions in a random sequence. The software analyzes the person's reactions to the given tasks, the live dynamics of the person's facial image, including natural physiological reactions that they cannot consciously control.
During person identification, the person's facial image is compared with their photograph in the state information system via software.
When clients who already have an account with a supervised entity open a new remote account with the same supervised entity, person identification is not required. If the supervised entity considers opening an account in this manner to be risky, it may apply one or more of the methods mentioned above.
During person identification, the integrity and confidentiality of communication between the supervised entity and the client, including full encryption of data transmission channels, are ensured.
Conclusion of Agreements
When the requirements of these Rules are complied with and remote account opening is not refused, a relevant agreement for account opening is concluded between the client and the supervised entity.
The supervised entity provides the client with the draft of the relevant agreement in a clear and legible format on a durable medium (any means that allows information to be stored for a period appropriate to its purposes and permits the stored information to be reproduced without alteration).
The client reviews the provided draft agreement and, if agreeing to its terms, confirms the agreement and other related documents with an enhanced electronic signature.
The supervised entity confirms the agreement with an enhanced electronic signature and provides it to the client on a durable medium. Upon the client's request, the supervised entity must make a copy of the remotely concluded agreement available in the form chosen by the client (on paper or another durable medium).
In the following cases, remote account opening is refused:
If the supervised entity refuses remote account opening, a notification is sent to the client via the relevant contact means provided by them (SMS notification, email address, etc.), and the reasons for the refusal are stated in the notification.
Final Provisions
Internal rules for remote account opening services are approved by the supervisory (directors') board of the supervised entity (or the executive p of the supervised entity if such a board does not exist). The adequacy of the person identification process is checked at least once a year, with a frequency determined by the supervised entity's internal rules.
In cases of detection or occurrence of security breaches, amendments to relevant legal acts, the supervised entity becoming aware of possible fraud or other legal violations, and the detection of deficiencies related to person identification, the remote account opening processes are reviewed, taking into account technological developments and experience gained in the application of the process, and relevant changes are made to internal rules if necessary.
All information and documents obtained during remote account opening, including video and audio files, images, and logs created during person identification, are stored in accordance with legislation and for the prescribed periods.
