Japanese
April 14, 2023
Updated on April 17, 2023
Financial Services Agency

JFSA hosted Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Virtual Assets Contact Group Meeting in Tokyo

The FATF’s Virtual Assets Contact Group (VACG) meeting and its private sector outreach were held in Tokyo on April 12th – 14th, hosted by the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA). Japan has chosen strengthening AML/CFT/CPF measures for virtual assets as one of the priorities of the Finance Track under its G7 Presidency this year. VACG leads the promotion of global implementation of FATF Standards on virtual assets, including engagements with the private sector.
　Officials from 19 jurisdictions and international organizations, including JFSA’s expert serving as a Co-Chair of the VACG, attended the meeting. In addition, as for private sector outreach, approximately 80 private-sector participants (virtual assets service providers, blockchain analytics companies, industry bodies, financial institutions, etc.) from all over the world joined the discussion.

　At the meeting, following the welcome remarks by SUZUKI Eikei, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Financial Services, the VACG discussed the topics below and agreed that it is important for the FATF and for each jurisdiction to continue promoting effective implementation of the FATF standards on virtual assets and to monitor and to explore responses to emerging risks and growing threats.  

• strengthening implementation of the FATF Standards on virtual assets in each jurisdiction and measures to promote its implementation
• progress of implementation of the Travel Rule and challenges for effective implementation
• Emerging sectors (e.g. Decentralized Finance, unhosted wallets including peer-to-peer payments, non-fungible tokens)
• Growing risks (e.g. thefts and misuses of virtual assets by North Korea, sanctions evasion, ransomware attacks, misuse of virtual assets by terrorists)

　Using the outcome of this meeting as one important input, the FATF will release a report in June 2023 that will include the progress of implementation of the FATF Standards, including the Travel Rule, measures to promote implementation of the FATF Standards, and results of monitoring of and exploring responses to emerging sectors including DeFi and P2P transactions.
 
　The JFSA will keep contributing to international discussion on AML/CFT/CPF measures related to virtual assets, taking advantage of its experience in the regulation and supervision of virtual assets.

Related link: FATF's press release

(*1) FATF (Financial Action Task Force) is an intergovernmental body that promotes international coordination against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. For details, please see the FATF’s website.
 
(*2) Following the adoption of the FATF Standards on virtual assets, the FATF established the Virtual Assets Contact Group (VACG) under the PDG in June 2019 to engage industry and monitor industry-led efforts to enhance compliance with the FATF Standards. Since then, in addition to the engagement with and monitoring of the industry, the VACG has served as a hub for the promotion of implementation of the FATF Standards and for virtual asset-related discussions at the FATF, including preparing annual reports, which summarize the current status and challenges of the implementation, and the Updated Guidance. JFSA has contributed to this group as a Co-Chair since its establishment. For details, please see the JFSA website.