Hong Kong Is Extending Its Anti-Money Laundering And Counter-Terrorist Financing (July 2017)

As the next Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) mutual evaluation is drawing near, Hong Kong has taken another step towards closing the regulatory gap between its anti-money laundering and count-terrorist financing (“AML/CTF”) regime and the FATF recommendations. In late June, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) (Amendment) Bill 2017 (the “Bill”) was published and introduced into the Legislative Council. Subject to the passage of the Bill, the Government proposes to implement the amendments on 1 March 2018, before the FATF mutual evaluation scheduled to be held tentatively in late 2018.