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UK-based cryptocurrency firms might be required to submit annual financial crime reports

The FCA released a proposal to include more firms in the annual financial crimes reporting.

Image by: QuoteInspector.com / Flickr

Wed, 26 Aug 2020, 15:25 pm UTC

Being a nascent industry, cryptocurrency regulation for the cryptocurrency space is always in a state of flux. For instance, UK-based crypto firms might soon be faced with additional Anti-Money Laundering (AML) reporting requirements.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently proposed broadening the annual financial crime reporting to include firms engaged in cryptocurrency-related businesses. In a consultation paper published this month, the UK financial regulator wants to include custodian wallet providers and crypto-asset exchanges, according to Cointelegraph.

“Currently, only certain types of firms are required to provide us with REP-CRIM information regardless of their total annual revenue,” FCA said. “We propose to extend this REP-CRIM obligation to a wider range of firms.”

The proposal mentioned the inclusion of “all cryptoasset exchange providers and custodian wallet providers. These firms are new categories of firms within the scope of the REP-CRIM obligation.” The paper also wants companies to provide “REP-CRIM information irrespective of their total annual revenue.”

One of the aims of the FCA’s proposed move to get a wider set of firms to be included in the submission of the reports is for the regulator to get more information for data-driven supervision. “This additional information will allow our supervisory approach to be more data-led, and broaden our understanding of firms that may have intrinsic ML risks due to their activities,” the regulator said.

The FCA said that the information will result in improved risk-based supervision as the agency can better allocate its resources with targeted financial crime investigations. “This means our resources are targeted at firms that carry on activities that pose potentially higher ML risks,” the paper noted.

The move is also in line with the FCA’s move to use data analytics in how it regulates firms under its supervision. “We consider that this approach will result in improving firms’ money laundering systems and controls, reduce actual risks of money laundering and help improve the overall integrity of the UK financial system,” the regulator said. If the proposal pushes through, an addition of around 4,500 will be required to submit the reports.

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