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Overview

Welcome to the Homepage of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). This website aims to provide you an overview of Hong Kong’s AML/CFT regime and strategies.

As an international financial centre, Hong Kong attaches great importance to safeguarding the integrity of our financial systems by implementing international standards on AML/CFT to deter and detect inward and outward flows of illicit funds. Hong Kong is an active member of international AML/CFT organizations, having been a member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since 1991 and a founding member of and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) since 1997.

A high level Central Coordinating Committee on AML/CFT (CCC), chaired by the Financial Secretary, steers on the formulation of AML/CFT policies and the implementation of the AML/CFT regime. It comprises members from the relevant Government bureaux and departments, financial regulators and law enforcement agencies (LEAs), which work together to take forward AML/CFT initiatives.

The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) is responsible for coordinating the Government’s efforts to deliver AML/CFT policies, strategies and legislative initiatives endorsed by the CCC. The FSTB monitors the overall effectiveness of Hong Kong’s AML/CFT regime and compliance with the FATF Recommendations, and facilitates cooperation among stakeholders. The Security Bureau is responsible for overall counter-terrorism strategy, and supports the FSTB in a number of AML/CFT policy areas such as customer due diligence and record-keeping requirements for designated non-financial businesses and professions, and the declaration/disclosure system for cross-boundary movement of currency and bearer negotiable instruments. The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau is responsible for coordinating the implementation of resolutions of the United Nations Security Council against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and overseeing the WMD and strategic trade control regime.

FSTB also maintains close working liaison with LEAs (the Hong Kong Police Force, the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED), and the Independent Commission Against Corruption), the Department of Justice, and the financial regulators (the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Insurance Authority, and the Money Service Supervision Bureau of the C&ED).