Ninth January 2020 saw supervisors around the globe meet to discuss supervising and regulating virtual assets and virtual asset service providers since FATF finalized the new measures in June 2019. The FATF President, Mr Xiangmin Liu declared open the second meeting of the FATF Supervisors Forum which recorded attendance of 135 representatives from over 50 delegations involved in the supervision of virtual asset. He emphasized that the anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regime will remain effective if they get refined and strengthened on a regular basis to address evolving risks and threats. The FATF has been developing a global knowledge base on the workings of supervising virtual assets. The FATF effort will also ensure a constant global approach to supervision and will assist the VASP sector to adjust to the new regulatory environment.
Three main areas were discussed by the Forum at the meeting as the participants shared their knowledge and experience in virtual assets and VASP supervision. Positive actions that VASPs have taken to comply with their AML/CFT obligations and challenges facing the VASP sector in countries where they have already been established were part of the discussion at the meeting. Representatives shared their approach to developing an AML/CFT regime for VASPs in their jurisdiction and outlined their plans of implementing the FATF’s rules so as to concur with the finalization of the VASPs in June 2019. Further areas which need more actions will be discussed at the next meeting of the forum to be held in May 2020.
