Efficient Oversight of Financial Firms
The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) has unified the inspection procedures and regulatory standards for financial companies that fail to meet their anti-money laundering obligations.
KoFIU announced on July 11 that it has revised its rule on inspecting and regulating financial companies regarding their obligations to report on financial transactions suspected of money laundering.
Under the Financial Transaction Report Act, financial companies should fulfill their anti-money laundering obligations, and KoFIU entrusts the work of inspecting and sanctioning financial companies to 11 organizations, including the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). These organizations have thus far applied different standards in carrying out their work. The entrusted organizations have the right to take measures against financial companies, such as warning, as well as against individual workers of financial companies via warning, reprimand, salary reduction and caution.
At the same time, some improvements are to be made on related regulatory procedures through the establishment of a committee for regulatory deliberation. The committee will provide prior notification regarding restrictions on financial companies and allow the companies to express their opinions beforehand. In addition, KoFIU is planning to hold two regular meetings each year with the 11 organizations to check how financial companies fulfill their obligations.