/English/Expertise/Compliance and Money Laundering Control
Expertise
Compliance and Money Laundering Control
In recent years, the control and examination of international supervisory institutions have become stricter, and penalties are severe. On the other hand, there are huge risks and uncertainties behind the opportunity of financial innovation. No matter whether it's a traditional or innovative one in the financial industry, both of them require complete and forward-looking advice and guidance.
/Traditional finance/
In 2016, the New York Department of financial service imposed a fine of US$180 million (about NT$5.7 billion) on Mega Bank for its violation of the US Bank Secrecy Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act. This case shocked the financial circle.
The Financial Supervisory Commission strengthened the supervision of domestic banks after this case. Financial institutions also try not to be included in the blacklist of sanctions and boycotts by the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
Attorneys in the Enlighten Law Group have served as legal advisors in major banks in Taiwan and securities investment companies. They managed the part of anti-money laundering, inspected the internal regulations and handled the employee training. Also, they have been instructors of compliance and anti-money laundering in NTU College of Law and Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance.
/Innovation of Virtual Currency/
Recently, virtual currency has become what the financial industry focused on, especially for Bitcoin. It attracts many techies to join the field of financial innovation. Virtual currency operators tend to concentrate on the transformation of technology rather than consider related regulations in their business.
For example, the Taiwanese government has not yet formulated laws and regulations on virtual currency, but there are relatively complete regulations in the U.S. and Japan. Therefore, Taiwanese virtual currency operators should not be satisfied that they meet the lenient regulation currently, but adopt higher standards to prevent their companies from being unable to access international markets, or their business might be forced to be terminated since they don't conform to more rigorous regulations.
Since virtual currency is one of the key sectors in money-laundering control, attorneys in the Enlighten Law Group often provide advice and assistance for virtual currency companies to construct pertinent systems. We have offered a legal opinion that accorded with the Money-Laundering Control Act and assisted these companies to pass review procedures of the stock exchange and financial supervision agencies before the goods being available for sale.
/Qualifications/
It is challenging for lawyers to be able to provide appropriate legal advice to both traditional financial institutions and fintech companies. Lawyers need to have sufficient working experience in financial institutions, and they especially need to be good at payment flow and transactions. If they interpret the law literally, they can solely see the surface on the norm instead of providing insightful suggestions for the management of financial institutions. When things go wrong, they might not be able to deal with the cash flow, analyze the situation accurately, and come up with effective resolutions.
It requires lawyers in this field to extensively comprehend transnational law, legislative trends, and technological advances. Consequently, lawyers can provide macro- and forward-looking institutional advice to clients.
/Expertise/
Attorneys in Enlighten Law Group have had profound practical experience in the financial business, in-depth research on financial innovation and rich experience in providing counseling for virtual currency traders. Our firm is competent at helping financial institutions and fintech companies to design business models, preventing legal risks accurately and avoiding penalties, litigations, and forced termination of business due to modifications of regulations.
/English/Expertise/Compliance and Money Laundering Control
