The Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Seychelles advised on the 16th of August, 2022 that the National Risk Assessment (NRA) Report pertaining to the NRA on Virtual Assets (VA) and Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs), which was conducted by Mr. Danny Sanhye of BDS Forensics with the assistance of a Working Group of technicians, is currently undergoing due process for approval and is expected to be finalised for distribution by end of August 2022. This comes following a press release by the Ministry of Finance, National Panning and Trade which was published on Friday 15th July, 2022.
The primary objective of the VA/VASP NRA was to aid the FSA and other relevant competent authorities within the National AML/CFT Committee (NAC) to assess the Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorist Financing (TF) risks, feasibility and drawbacks associated with having a VA/VASP regime in Seychelles, and to provide an action plan for consideration.
The conclusion of the NRA was that the overall exposure of Seychelles to ML and TF risks arising from VA and VASPs is “Very High” and that this is largely attributed to certain unregulated activities occurring predominantly through the use of Seychelles incorporated legal persons.
The NRA Report is expected to provide some guidance and clarity on the national position and strategy on the matter of VA and VASPs, however, NAC highlighted that this is only the first step towards the development of legislation in line with the established policy position that will allow Seychelles to meet its obligations in regards to Recommendation 15 (REC 15) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards, and as such, a wider country NRA is also scheduled to be conducted towards the end of 2022.