Workshop on Virtual Assets for the Revision of the Anti-Money Laundering Law

The Workshop was attended by Mr. Pham Thanh Ha, Deputy Governor of the SBV; Mr. Ta Quang Don, Director General of the SBV’s Department of Legal Affairs. For the World Bank’s side, there was Mr. Ketut Ariadi Kusuma, Coordinator of the Financial Sector; Mr. Trieu Quoc Viet, Senior Financial Sector Specialist; Mr. Danny Sanhye, Consultant to the World Bank. Besides, there were also representatives from several SBV entities, other relevant Ministries, committees of the National Assembly, and banking experts, etc.

In his opening speech at the Workshop, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha mentioned that, according to the provisions of the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam, one of the functions and tasks of the SBV is taking lead and coordinating with other relevant agencies in developing policies, plans and organizing the implementation of anti-money laundering activities. Also in this Law, the Banking Supervision Agency is assigned as the responsible agency for the implementation of this task.

On the basis of its functions and tasks, the SBV has taken lead in researching, developing and submitting to the competent authorities for the enaction of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, which was adopted by the 13th National Assembly at its 3rd Session on June 18, 2012, then took effect from the beginning of 2013, and is currently the highest legal document in the field of anti-money laundering. This Law stipulates measures to prevent, detect, deter and penalize organizations and individuals that commit the acts of money laundering, as well as the responsibilities of the relevant agencies, organizations and individuals in anti-money laundering.

Since the birth of the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, the anti-money laundering in Vietnam has achieved many important results, contributing to the fight against crimes in general and the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing in particular. In addition, this Law has also contributed to enhancing the transparency of the financial system, promoting the development of international trade and payment operations, thereby contributing to the economic development and the promotion of safety and security of the society.

However, after nearly 10 years of implementation, the Law on Anti-Money Laundering has revealed a number of limitations; it has not been updated, and cannot meet the new international standards, as well as the increasingly demanding management requirements in light of the rapid development in real life. And thus, it has led to an urgent need for a review, consolidation and recommendations for revision of the Law.

Overview of the Workshop.

SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha shared that, starting from the actual implementation of the Law and the development trends of the new financial services, especially the outcomes of the APG Review Mission, the SBV had taken lead and coordinated with other relevant agencies to consider and propose amendments to the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, focusing on the subjects to the reporting requirement, especially those related to virtual assets. The actual statistics has shown that the area of virtual assets has been developing rapidly and complicatedly around the world, and also in Vietnam.

SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha made high evaluation for the discussions and sharing of both domestic and foreign experts on the legal frameworks related to virtual assets in Vietnam and the experience from other countries, which had provided more comprehensive views of the need to improve the legal frameworks on anti-money laundering in order to improve the performance of state management in this area, as well as to deal with high-tech crimes using virtual assets as a tool for money laundering.

Mr. Ketut Ariadi Kusuma, World Bank Coordinator of the Financial Sector, speaks at the Workshop.

Speaking at the Workshop, Mr. Ketut Ariadi Kusuma, World Bank Coordinator of the Financial Sector, shared that, payment transactions with virtual assets are different from traditional financial transactions. The money transfer from one person to another is done through new tech-based payment systems, instead of banks or other traditional financial institutions. Virtual assets can be transferred virtually anywhere in the world. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) has strongly promoted technological advancement, and this has seemed to be further accelerated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions in many countries, which has led to the growth in using virtual assets and the requirements for new amendments to the existing regulations to this area. Recognizing that the theme of this Workshop was important for the preparation of the amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Law in Vietnam, the World Bank wished to share further knowledge and experience in this new area, which has been developing and changing rapidly.

At the Workshop, the participants also exchanged, discussed and shared experience on other matters, such as virtual assets and virtual asset service providers; the risks of anti-money laundering associated with virtual assets; the preliminary assessment of the implementation of the 2012 Law on Anti-Money Laundering; the orientations for improving the Law on Anti-Money Laundering related to expanding the scope of reporting subjects in the fight against money laundering; the current situation of Vietnam’s legal frameworks on virtual assets and some suggestions and recommendations; FATF’s recommendations for the management of virtual asset service providers, etc.

LK