Macau, Hong Kong and Beijing to boost anti-money laundering fight

Monetary authorities in Macau, Hong Kong and Beijing are vowing to up their game in the fight against money laundering.

On Friday, the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM) announced that it had met with its counterparts at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) as well as with representatives of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to power a new Financial Security Expert Alliance aimed at combatting serious financial crime, money laundering and terrorist financing.

The HKMA issued its own statement that echoed many of the AMCM’s talking points while not actually referencing the AMCM. Instead, the HKMA announced the formation of its own Fraud and Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce that will utilize the combined strengths of regulators, the financial sector and the Hong Kong Police Force.

Sources told the South China Morning Post that the separate but equal statements reflected “a coordinated move with Beijing pulling the strings” to combat the “outflow of illicit funds from China’s economy.”