On October 25-26, 2021 the delegation of the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre for Combating Illicit Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their Precursors (CARICC/Centre) represented by Mr. A.A. Erkaboev and Ms. T.V. Evdokimova attended an international workshop on exchange of experience in the implementation of FATF requirements regarding virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VA/VASP) in Almaty.

Virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, have been increasingly used in money laundering and terrorist financing. This workshop aims to improve measures to counter money laundering and terrorist financing by sharing experiences.

The workshop was organised by the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan (FMA), the International Training and Methodological Centre for Financial Monitoring (ITMCFM) and the People's Bank of China. 

The workshop was attended by representatives of the Secretariat of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the FATF Contact Group on Virtual Assets, the EAG Secretariat, UNODC, CARICC, delegations from the financial intelligence divisions of Australia, China, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sweden, as well as representatives from Switzerland, Uzbekistan and the USA. 

Participants were provided with presentations on the clarification of the FATF standards, the results of the second 12-month review of the revised FATF standards for virtual assets and virtual asset providers, and a brief overview of the key changes to the FATF Guidance on the Risk-Based Approach for Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Providers and an explanation of the key provisions.

In addition, the first day of the workshop the experience of countries which have been assessed for compliance with the new FATF standards was reviewed, in particular the experience of China (the country which banned VA/VASP) as well as Japan (the country which regulates VA/VASP) were presented.

There is also as an example of the Russian Federation, Switzerland, Uzbekistan and the United States in which participants considered the specifics of assessing ML/TF risks associated with VA or VASP activities.

The second day of the workshop consisted of presentations by delegations from the Republic of Belarus, Australia, Sweden on the organisation of VASP supervisory activities, including international cooperation in the VASP supervision process and the application of administrative, criminal or civil penalties against VASP for failure to comply with AML/CFT requirements and obligations. 

Representatives of national financial market supervisors, regulators and supervisors of financial institutions and VASPs, experts in blockchain analysis and cybercrime made presentations at the workshop.

The workshop concluded with an extensive discussion of the new FATF standards on VA and VASP and an exchange of experiences on measures to improve the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing using VA and VASP.