April 25, 2024
Finance
Regulators inspect corporate virtual bank accounts over cryptocurrency worries
[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s financial regulators have inspected banks that have opened virtual accounts for corporate customers amid concerns that such accounts could be exploited as a loophole to attract new investors for cryptocurrencies, an official said on Jan. 10.
Regulators have banned banks from offering virtual accounts, which are needed to sell or buy cryptocurrencies, to individual customers, in the latest measure to help prevent speculative investment for virtual coins.
However, virtual bank accounts for corporate customers allow them to create hundreds of thousands of bank accounts for individuals.
The problem is that cryptocurrency exchanges have used such accounts to lure new investors for virtual coins at a time when virtual bank accounts for individual customers are banned.
“Such accounts have a high possibility of an accident,” the official at the financial authorities said.
Financial regulators are conducting on-site inspections of six retail banks over accounts used in trading cryptocurrencies.
They are closely watching whether banks comply with anti-money laundering rules in connection with cryptocurrency-related accounts, officials said.
By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)
