【FATF Mutual Evaluation Report of Hong Kong】

 

One of the most prominent international bodies focusing on the combat against money laundering is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF conducts peer reviews (“Mutual Evaluation”) of each member on an ongoing basis to assess how each jurisdiction is performing in preventing criminal abuse of the financial system. The assessment result is considered an important factor in evaluating a jurisdiction’s international reputation as a financial centre as it reflects the level of integrity of its financial system.

 

The Mutual Evaluation of Hong Kong took place in 2018 and the Report was recently published on 4 September 2019.  Hong Kong has been rated overall compliant by FATF, which is considered quite an achievement because so far, out of the 25 jurisdictions that were evaluated in the fourth round of Mutual Evaluation by FATF, only 7 (including Hong Kong) have been rated overall compliant and Hong Kong is the only Asian jurisdiction among the seven. President would like to take this opportunity to thank the Law Society team, under the guidance of our Anti Money Laundering Committee chaired by Mr Michael Lintern-Smith, Past President, who have put in substantial time and effort in seeing through the evaluation process. Extensive exchanges and meetings have been held with the relevant government bureau as well as the FATF assessment team explaining the AML regulatory and operational measures that have been put in place for solicitors.

 

Melissa K. Pang

President

(Information from The Law Society of Hong Kong)