Financial Services Commission: "Suspicious Virtual Asset Transactions Must Be Reported Within 3 Days"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji-hwan Park] Going forward, financial companies must report to financial authorities within three days if suspicious transactions involving illegal assets are detected in specific financial transactions. Virtual asset service providers are not required to obtain real-name verified deposit and withdrawal accounts if there is no exchange between virtual assets and money.

The Financial Services Commission announced on the 17th that it will publicly notify the partial amendment of the "Regulations on Reporting and Supervision of Specific Financial Transaction Information" related to virtual assets from the 18th until next month 2nd. This is to specify matters delegated by the law and enforcement decree to supervisory regulations following the enforcement of the amended Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information on March 25 last year. The amended Act imposes anti-money laundering obligations on virtual asset service providers.

The amendment to the supervisory regulations first establishes a method for pricing virtual assets. At the time of concluding a sale or exchange transaction, the amount of virtual assets indicated by the virtual asset service provider is applied to calculate the amount converted into Korean won. Previously, the amount converted into Korean won was determined by applying the value of virtual assets indicated by the virtual asset service provider when receiving a request from a customer to transfer virtual assets or when receiving virtual assets.

Exceptions to the obligation to secure real-name verified deposit and withdrawal accounts are also stipulated. In particular, if there is no exchange between virtual assets and money, virtual asset service providers are not required to obtain real-name verified deposit and withdrawal accounts.

Additionally, the amendment includes the preparation of reporting forms for virtual asset service providers and stipulates compliance obligations for virtual asset service providers. Virtual assets known as "dark coins," which are difficult to trace transaction details and pose a high risk of money laundering, will be prohibited from being handled by virtual asset service providers.

The form for suspicious transaction reports (STR) is also specified. The reporting deadline has been clarified from the previous "report without delay" to "within three business days." The reporting period starts from the point when the anti-money laundering reporting officer of the financial company determines the transaction as a suspicious transaction subject to reporting.

The amended Regulations on Reporting and Supervision of Specific Financial Transaction Information will be implemented on March 25 in accordance with the amended Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information after the notification of the regulation changes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.