The Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission announced today the results of its disciplinary action against Ace Digital Innovation Co., Ltd. (ACE Exchange). The company was fined NT$1.52 million for violating multiple money laundering prevention regulations and the Personal Data Protection Act. of fines.
Financial Supervisory Commission: Inspection found major violations
The Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission stated that in November 2023, the Financial Supervisory Commission conducted a special inspection of Ace Digital Innovation Co., Ltd. to prevent money laundering and combat financing of terrorism. The inspection revealed multiple violations by the company, showing that it failed to comply with relevant legal requirements.
Customer review is not strict
The FSC Securities and Futures Bureau believes that Ace Company failed to implement enhanced review measures for high-risk customers in terms of customer review, and failed to fully understand the purpose and nature of establishing business relationships. In addition, the company failed to fully identify and verify the identity of its customers, failed to truly identify the actual beneficiaries of its corporate customers, and failed to prudently assess the need to increase the customer's risk level.
Poor transaction monitoring
In terms of transaction monitoring, Ace Company failed to set different monitoring thresholds according to the customer's money laundering risk level, failed to accurately record the processing status of suspicious transaction warnings, and failed to complete the investigation records of suspicious transaction warnings for the same customer. In addition, the company failed to fully understand the sources and destinations of client funds.
Insufficient record keeping
Ace Company has a number of deficiencies in record keeping, including failure to fully preserve the wallet address information of external senders that handle virtual asset transfers for customers, and record vouchers for dealings and transactions with customers. The company also failed to provide information on the transfer of virtual assets to the Financial Supervisory Commission’s inspection.
Improper management of personal information
In addition, Ace Company retained customer personal information in an external company's system without taking appropriate security measures, which further aggravated its violations.
Financial Supervisory Commission’s ACE Punishment Result
The Financial Supervisory Commission stated that in accordance with the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 2, Article 6, paragraph 5, Article 7, paragraph 5, Article 8, paragraph 4, of the Money Laundering Prevention Act and Article 48, paragraph 2, of the Personal Data Protection Act, The Financial Supervisory Commission imposed a fine of NT$1.52 million on Ace Digital Innovation Co., Ltd. as a form of punishment.
Penalties imposed on exchanges under Taiwan’s defense laundering law: killing the chicken to scare the monkeys
This split case highlights the importance of financial institutions in preventing money laundering and protecting personal data. The Financial Supervisory Commission calls on all financial institutions to strengthen internal controls and comply with relevant regulations to maintain the safety and stability of the financial system.
It can be seen from the reasons for the penalty against ACE that the Financial Supervisory Commission has used international standards to view the internal control mechanism of domestic VASPs (virtual asset service providers). Looking back to the past, many companies may be prone to deficiencies. Taiwan's virtual asset supervision may That's one step further.
This article The Financial Supervisory Commission’s first case of VASP financial inspection and fine: ACE’s trump card exchange failed to prevent money laundering and was fined NT$1.52 million. First appeared in Chain News ABMedia.