Despite the “New Normal” Lifestyle of the community due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, it has not deterred the determination of the Financial Intelligence Office (GIF) to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies and different sectors in Macao to combat financial crimes. GIF is now in its fourth year after the establishment of the “Public Private Partnership” with the financial sector, and has been maintaining close communication with the sector. GIF organizes“Joint Meeting on Prevention and Suppression of Financial Crimes” to discuss preventive measures on anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) with financial institutions, so as to enhance the effectiveness of prevention and suppression of financial crimes.
“The 7th Joint Meeting on Prevention and Suppression of Financial Crimes”was held on 3rd June 2021.Representatives of the compliance department from all banks in Macao and Macao Postal Savings were invited and about 60 representatives attended the meeting. During the meeting, Director of GIF Chu Un I, Deputy Director Fong Iun Kei and other representatives provided a detailed introduction and summary of Macao’s AML/CFT statistics and latest suspicious transaction trends in the financial sector, an overview of the risk assessment of money laundering/terrorist financing and proliferation financing (PF) in Macao, Strategic Plan on AML/CFT/CPF, as well as explaining the arrangements for preparation of next round risk assessment. Both parties discussed the current compliance management work on AML/CFT and emerging global money laundering trends, and also explored various measures to effectively prevent and combat potential financial crime risks.
The long-term vision of Macao’s AML/CFT/CPF strategy is to maintain financial stability with appropriate preventive measures and to reduce the risk of financial system being abused for laundering proceeds of crime. “The 7th Joint Meeting on Prevention and Suppression of Financial Crimes” had fruitful results, with both parties opined that regular communication between public services and financial sector contributes to the prevention and suppression of ML/TF/PF.