THE TRAVEL RULE FOR CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND VIRTUAL ASSETS

A report from Geissbühler Weber & Partner in Switzerland says that FATF sets rules for AML, including the Travel Rule that was first introduced in 2012.  Its standards require the exchange of client data between financial intermediaries and are reviewed and updated in regular cycles.  This report sets out to introduce you to the Travel Rule framework, demonstrates how financial intermediaries can comply with the standards and highlights differences for countries that have implemented the rule. It is also said to give a technical overview of existing protocols that can be implemented to comply with the Travel Rule, and highlights the main differences in order to give an idea of what to expect and what requirements need to be addressed.  It explains that the Travel Rule was first introduced in 1996 by FinCEN under which banks and money services businesses must share information of both the originators and beneficiary tied to payments of $3,000 and higher, and in 2012 the policy was amended to include electronic funds transfers.  FATF adopted the Travel Rule in 2012.  In June 2019, FATF proposed global standards regarding the sharing of beneficiary and originator information between Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP), inspired by regulation from FinCEN.  Entities subject to these regulations are cryptocurrency exchanges, custodial wallets, digital exchange (DEX) operators or others based on the interpretation of regulations in each jurisdiction.

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HOW TO RETURN STOLEN ASSETS RESPONSIBLY

On 10 November, Human Rights Watch says that to help make the return of stolen assets reality, civil society organisations, including Human Rights Watch, developed the Civil Society Principles for Accountable Asset Return.  These principles build on those agreed by the Global Forum for Asset Recovery, an intergovernmental initiative hosted by the World Bank.  Numerous groups contributed to the Civil Society Principles, drawing on their experiences observing cases of asset repatriation in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.  It says that responsibly returning assets is especially challenging when the corrupt person from whom they were seized remains in power.  The principles include transparency and public participation, integrity, accountability and victim restitution.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/11/10/how-return-stolen-assets-responsibly#

The Civil Society Principles for Accountable Asset Return are available at –

https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2020/11/Civil%20Society%20Principles%20for%20Accountable%20Asset%20Return.pdf

The December 2017 Principles for Disposition and Transfer of Confiscated Stolen Assets in Corruption Cases from the Global Forum for Asset Recovery are at –

https://star.worldbank.org/sites/star/files/the-gfar-principles.pdf

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