FIU to Revamp AML Evaluation System... Extra Points for Voluntary Improvements by Financial Firms

Points Deducted for Insufficient Risk Management

Enhanced Monitoring of Foreign Currency Transactions

Starting this year, the government will reflect financial companies' voluntary anti-money laundering (AML) efforts in the regulatory compliance evaluation. Both the level of exposure to money laundering risks and the companies' risk management capabilities will be assessed. If risk management is found insufficient compared to the level of risk, disadvantages will be imposed.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission announced on March 2, 2026, that it will conduct the AML regulatory compliance evaluation for the first half of 2026 and improve the evaluation framework.

An FIU official stated, "Last year's evaluation revealed that certain areas, such as reviewing criteria for identifying suspicious transactions that require expertise and conducting independent audits, need improvement." The official added, "In particular, only about 22% of institutions independently identified and addressed issues through independent audits."

Accordingly, this year's evaluation will comprehensively assess both the level of exposure to money laundering risks and the risk management capabilities of financial companies, focusing on encouraging autonomous improvement of vulnerabilities by the companies themselves.

First, through qualitative assessment, additional points will be awarded for proactive improvement initiatives and voluntary AML activities. Previously, the evaluation focused on performance in risk management indicators, making it difficult to fully reflect each company's active efforts toward improvement.

Additionally, the level of money laundering risk exposure and the adequacy of risk management will be linked, and if risk management falls short relative to the exposure, points will be deducted. The deductions will be adjusted based on the ratio of risk management to risk exposure, enabling a more precise assessment of management systems proportional to each company’s risk level.

Furthermore, in light of recent money laundering crimes related to overseas remittance, such as the recent incident in Cambodia, monitoring of suspicious transactions involving foreign currency transactions will be strengthened.

To enhance the effectiveness of the regulatory compliance evaluation, the FIU also plans to stipulate mandatory participation in the evaluation and grounds for sanctions such as submitting false information in the "Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information."

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