"South Korea Must Strengthen Supervision of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has recommended that South Korea strengthen its supervision related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.

The Financial Services Commission announced on the 24th that it received this recommendation at the 31st FATF Plenary Meeting held from the 16th to the 21st in Paris, France.

According to the Financial Services Commission, the FATF evaluated that South Korea has a good understanding of the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing but pointed out that certain non-financial businesses, such as lawyers and accountants, must also fulfill their obligations to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.

The FATF also indicated the need to strengthen supervision of financial institutions' compliance, prevent corporations and trusts from being exploited for money laundering, and improve systems to prioritize investigation and prosecution of money laundering crimes.

Additionally, the FATF adopted international guidelines for customer identification in response to the increasing demand for digital financial transactions and the use of digital IDs. This is a non-binding guide intended as an explanatory manual for governments and stakeholders to refer to during system implementation.

Accordingly, the Financial Intelligence Unit plans to operate a working group with financial institutions to discuss effective ways to utilize the guidelines in the future.