The Macao SAR Government is hosting the 17th Annual Meeting of Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) from the 15th to 18th of July, 2014 at the Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Strip. More than 350 delegates from 41 member jurisdictions, together with delegates from international organisations and other observers, will gather in Macao, China to discuss anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) issues of common interest and share experiences in fighting such crimes. This is the second time that the Macao SAR hosts this event after it hosted the 6th APG Annual Meeting in 2003
The APG was founded in Bangkok in 1997 as an autonomous international organization that fosters cooperation and compliance with internationally recognized standards, in particular the Forty Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), among Asia-Pacific jurisdictions, in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing crimes. The Co-Chairs of the APG are Australia and China. China completes its term as Co-Chair after the Macao meeting and will be replaced by New Zealand.
Some of the key international organizations who participate with, and support, the efforts of the APG in the region include the FATF, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, OECD, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Asian Development Bank and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
APG members and observers, including Macao, China, are committed to the effective implementation and enforcement of internationally accepted standards against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Macao joined the APG in 2001 and since then has been an active participant. During its years of membership, Macao has been proactively enhancing its AML/CFT efforts, the most important of which being the enactment of Laws n.° 2/2006 and n.° 3/2006 for the prevention and suppression of money laundering crimes and terrorism. In addition, supervisory and law enforcement agencies have also been developing their AML strength through the issuance of guidelines, proactive supervision and increase of resources in investigation and prosecution of these offences. Another major step was the establishment of Financial Intelligence Office, which serves as a centre of collection, analysis and dissemination of suspicious transactions reports, coordinator of an interdepartmental working group dedicated to the implementation of AML policies and a major contact point with international bodies and intelligence exchange. Moreover, the formal establishment of the interdepartmental AML Working Group enables a more effective collaboration of efforts in anti-money laundering among the relevant government agencies.
With the revision of FATF Recommendations in 2012, the focus of AML/CFT combat has shifted to proof of effectiveness of AML systems. Jurisdictions have to prove that they have proper polices and capabilities to implement AML/CFT laws and regulations and understand their own risks and weaknesses so as to develop risk mitigating measures. The National Risk Assessment is thus now an important element in the framing of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing policies and design of specific mitigating measures, an exercise in which Macao is currently working on.
Money laundering and terrorist financing never confine themselves to domestic borders and almost always involve international movements of funds. Macao always stays vigilant for the emergence of new ML/TF trends and threats associated with new technologies, and will introduce measures to mitigate the risks associated with them. In addition, through the interdepartmental AML Working Group, participating government agencies can efficiently exchange information regarding crimes and ML trends, explore training opportunities and share experience and opinions on AML policy issues. Different government agencies have also enhanced international cooperation with overseas counterparts in terms of information exchange, experience sharing and joint-actions to suppress cross-border crimes.
It is expected that the APG Annual Meeting 2014 will produce fruitful outcomes as it has in previous years.
