FATF Ministerial Meeting Reaffirms Multilateral Cooperation and Joint Response to Illicit Finance

Adoption of the FATF Ministerial Joint Declaration

Strong Reaffirmation of Support for FATF

Joint Response to Transnational Organized Crime and Drug Cartels

Member countries of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen international cooperation against money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and to jointly respond through multilateral collaboration.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission announced on the 20th that 40 member countries attended the FATF Ministerial Meeting held at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States, on the 17th (local time), and adopted a joint declaration.

Established in 1989, FATF is an international organization whose main missions are anti-money laundering (AML), countering the financing of terrorism (CFT), and preventing the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (CPF), with 40 member countries currently participating.

At this meeting, ministers from each country reviewed FATF's work achievements over the past two years and approved the priority tasks for the next two years. In addition, a ministerial joint declaration was adopted, expressing high-level commitment to fully support FATF activities.

The member countries agreed that illicit finance is a major threat that fuels terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, and fraud, as well as undermines international security and economic development, and decided to respond together.

They also agreed to continuously enhance institutional reforms and implementation effectiveness through mutual evaluations, and to further strengthen the performance-based evaluation system by 2028.

Regarding technological advances, it was emphasized that while supporting artificial intelligence (AI) and digital financial innovation, it is necessary to maintain the soundness and balance of the financial system. In particular, the member countries urged the prompt implementation of international standards in the virtual asset sector.

Additionally, in order to respond to complex threats such as fraud, cyber-enabled financial crime, transnational organized crime, drug cartels, terrorism, and proliferation financing, the member countries agreed to strengthen public-private cooperation and information sharing, and to promote the responsible use of advanced technologies such as AI. Notably, fraud was defined as one of the most widespread predicate offenses worldwide, and the need for a joint response was emphasized.

Lee Hyungjoo, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, introduced the recent case of the government's response to Southeast Asian scam organizations involving Korean nationals, and stressed that practical cooperation among the international community is essential to respond to transnational crime.

The Financial Intelligence Unit stated that it will faithfully implement the international commitments presented in this ministerial declaration, while actively participating in discussions on the establishment and revision of FATF international standards.

Furthermore, the Financial Intelligence Unit used the occasion of the meeting to discuss bilateral cooperation plans with Andrea Gacki, Director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Director Gacki stated, "Korea is an important partner for the United States, and strategic cooperation in the areas of anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, and countering proliferation financing is extremely important."

She particularly emphasized the need for rapid and close information sharing between the two countries' Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) to counter transnational criminal organizations systematically laundering large amounts of illicit funds and committing fraud crimes in the Asia-Pacific region.

In response, Director Lee Hyungjoo agreed that the two countries should take the lead in joint responses as leading countries in anti-money laundering (AML), and stated that it is necessary to strengthen risk-based approaches and supervision (RBA·RBS) to detect and block suspicious transactions at an early stage. He also added that expanding cooperation with the private sector is important.

Korea also conveyed that it agrees with the direction of the United States' AML system reform and plans to reorganize its policies with a risk-based approach to successfully respond to the 5th FATF mutual evaluation and enhance the international consistency of its system.

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