Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has recently announced a considerable acceleration of its anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory guidelines for digital currency service providers. The Taiwanese authority has confirmed that it moved the registration deadline to November 30, 2024 from the initial January 1, 2025 date.
This move from Taiwan‘s authorities has been revealed following significant penalties issued to several crypto-assets exchanges for alleged compliance shortcomings with the current AML laws.
At present, there are reportedly 26 virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that have officially been cleared to do business in Taiwan. However, under the latest requirement, all cryptocurrency-focused firms, irrespective of any earlier registration, need to adhere to the AML registration guidelines.
And failure to register might lead to more fines as well as potentially 2 years in prison (or fines reaching 5 million New Taiwan dollars or appr. $155,900).
The FSC also noted that no services providers have successfully completed the Money Laundering Prevention Registration under the VASP Registration Measures.
To help out with compliance guidelines, the FSC has released a checklist for crypto-assets exchanges in order to monitor potentially fraudulent / suspicious transfers and other types of illicit activities.
Key indicators like unusual or uncommon transaction patterns, several different accounts associated with the same IP address, as well as regular changes in customer details needs to be watched closely.
As part of an enforcement action, the FSC had reportedly fined MaiCoin and BitoPro for violations as they pertain to customer due diligence, accurate record-keeping, as well as suspicious transaction reporting.
Now, as a part of the updated regulatory framework, VASPs are required to turn in a form that explains in detail their operations while also reporting any updates to their company details (within a period of 5 business days).