- In the long run, the revision of the AML act is an answer
Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit completed its first virtual asset business registration on August 20. This reflects some efforts of financial authorities to try to resolve one of the pending issues ahead of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) nominee Koh Seung-beom’s personnel hearing scheduled for Sept. 27.
Let’s note that Upbit reported with a confirmation letter of retention, not a contract for a real-name verification account issuance. Banks would not have wanted to take all the responsibility when the accident broke out on cryptocurrency exchanges.
No one knows what will happen on exchanges in the future. Banks could be subject to sanctions if exchanges run away, cause huge losses due to hacking or face money laundering. It is terrifying that banks should get the blame just because they issued a real-name verification account.
The most serious problem with Korea's anti-money laundering (AML) act, officially called the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, is that it has not formally entrusted banks with the issuance of real-name verification accounts. The Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) will be responsible for certifying the Information Security Management System (ISMS) and proving the absence of financial criminal experience, respectively. Only the issuance of real-name verification accounts was handled by private institutions, banks. More accurately, the government entrusted it to banks without legal basis even though they do not want it.
It is no wonder that banks demanded immunity or guidance from the FSC. However, promises of immunity without legal grounds are meaningless, and no authorities want to take responsibility for providing guidance. The National Assembly scored its own goal by having failed to recognize in advance that the provision of the real-name verification account in the revised bill was a landmine in the AML act.
Not long ago, Nonghyup Bank asked Bithumb and Coinone to block deposits and withdrawal coins. This was caused by two provisions of the enforcement decree of the AML act. There is no transitional clause in the supplementary provisions that postpone the enforcement of the travel rule until March 25 next year. The provision that a real-name verification account can be opened after getting approvals applies only to new business operators. It is read that existing operators are prohibited from depositing and withdrawing Korean won and coins until registration. Banks’ interpretation can be excessive, but financial institutions are so sensitive to even a single provision.
Watching equestrian Chung Yoo-ra’s entrance examination scandal led to the arrests of Ewha Womans University’s president and several professors, as well as the impeachment of the president, banks fully learned the risk of arbitrary judgment. Banks made a big concession and wrote a maintenance confirmation letter of the real-name account. It is an implicit declaration by banks that they cannot be held responsible for potential risks.
It is also interpreted that banks will “consider” issuing a real-name verification account after authorities approve exchanges. Since the responsibility for issuing a real-name verification account has not disappeared, banks can hold on to the maintenance confirmation or even withdraw it even after exchanges are registered.
If banks do not write the real-name verification account contract after September 25, the four exchanges that maintain the real-name verification account cannot operate, or even if they do, they must do it without a contract.
The alternative is simple. In the long run, the AML act needs to be revised. However, there is insufficient time to revise the act again before September 24. As an alternative, authorities and banks should find a point of contact to register 10 or more exchanges.
Three exchanges, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit, are likely to register soon since they obtained the confirmation letters of retention. Then, other exchanges except Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit have to close the fiat market as of September 25 and must run coin market.
