To strengthen co-operation in combating financial crime, the Securities and Futures Commission and Hong Kong Police have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding. Why did it take so long?
The Memorandum of Understanding has been drawn up to formalise and further strengthen co-operation in combating financial crime.
It covers a range of matters including referral of cases, joint investigations, exchange and use of information, mutual provision of investigative assistance. It also establishes a framework for closer collaboration on policy, operational and training issues.
Taskforce Project
In May police in Hong Kong, the authorities and major banks launched a Fraud and Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce.
The Fraud and Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce established a 12 month pilot project in a bid to enhance the detection, prevention and disruption of serious financial crime and money laundering threats.
Growing Concern
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has seen a steady rise in reports of financial misconduct. In 2016 the city’s Joint Financial Intelligence Unit received 76,590 suspicious transaction reports, almost 90 percent of which were from banks. In the first half of this year they received 37,726 such reports.
A Powerful Magnet
Earlier this year the Hong Kong Monetary Authority reprimanded and fined Coutts Hong Kong Branch for contraventions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance.
The recent fiasco surrounding the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and its money-laundering scandal has also found its way into the Hong Kong system.
