The South Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) held a consultative body meeting on strengthening the compliance capacity of virtual asset service providers (VASPs) on July 27 along with the joint virtual asset crime investigation unit launched a day before and major VASPs.
The meeting was held to ensure strong coordination and cooperation with the newly launched joint virtual asset crime investigation unit, bolster response to illegal activities and support VASPs to enhance their compliance capacity. Stated in the Press release by Financial Services Commission South Korea.
Speaking at the meeting about the need to strengthen government-wide collective response, KoFIU Commissioner Rhee Yunsu said that although the KoFIU has been carrying out its oversight functions mainly within the framework of anti-money laundering efforts, we will operate a strategic analysis team on virtual assets to more systematically analyze criminal activities involving virtual assets so that we can provide more meaningful and valuable.
Cryptocurrency: A Increasing Compliance Challenge:
For financial institutions, the rising threat of ransomware demands that are satisfied with cryptocurrency payments is posing a major compliance challenge.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the organization that sets global standards for AML/CFT (anti-money laundering and fighting the financing of terrorism), has released a paper that discusses one of the most destructive and rapidly expanding categories of cybercrime in recent years.
The FATF’s argument for combating ransomware centers on exposing the shadowy financial flows that ransomware gangs and the networks that support them use, most of which are conducted in crypto-assets.
Compliance officers at VASPs and financial institutions are increasingly being required by concurrent legislative developments to learn how to recognise and manage financial crime risks associated with ransomware.
