Canadian financial watchdog geared up for FATF compliance

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC) plans on closely regulating crypto companies, transactions and activities after new rules are implemented on June 1, as per a departmental report this month. 

CoinDesk also mentioned this in a tweet:

Canada’s financial crimes watchdog is preparing to implement its broad new virtual currency oversight powers ahead of the Financial Action Task Force’s June 2020 deadline. @realDannyNelson reports.https://t.co/XacYXuazU9

— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) March 18, 2020

According to the agency, the execution of regulations emerging from new legislative change will be a top priority for FINTRAC. It further stated that this amendment to Canada’s existing criminal finance framework is expected to produce an improved AML/ATF Regime. FINTRAC is the Canadian counterpart to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in the United States. 

According to the new regulations, companies with $10,000 CAD in crypto activity are registered as a money services business. Companies are also required to record sender and receivers’ names, addresses, birth dates, contact numbers and virtual currency types for transactions over $1,000 CAD in some cases. More extensive documentation requirements apply to transactions of $10,000 CAD and above.

Violations are largely categorized as “minor” infringements under the new amendments. The amendments were in response to FATF’s intense 2015-2016 assessment of Canada’s cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism frameworks which were regarded as “deficient.” Canada is expected to comply with certain regulations, as a member of the FATF. 

FINTRAC implied to this expectation in its recent report, stating “the overall legislative and policy framework must serve Canada’s interests while staying attuned to international expectations.”

Other countries, and exchanges, are also working rapidly to get in line before FATF’s June deadline.