Money Laundering challenges in Hongkong

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Madhura Phadtare
Madhura Phadtare
Madhura is editor at Regtechtimes and is an expert in regulatory developments in the international scenario.

Hongkong has developed anti-money laundering measures. Hongkong is regarded as an international and financial center. It is a free market economy. Hongkong faces a lot of money laundering and financial crime threats that are taking place at large. This entails the need for a specialized AML certification in Hongkong.

In the last 10 years, the first point in the efforts of the countries in the region to internationalize their financial systems is the Hong Kong financial markets. For the FINTECH professionals in Hongkong, the main aspect is to understand the major points in the business process.

What are the crimes in Hongkong

The criminal activities in Hongkong are very low but they are in existence in some or the other form. The most common crimes that the country faces are theft, drug trafficking, assaults’ etc. The organized crime is increasing day by day in Hongkong. The domestic as well as the transitional criminal illicit organizations carry sex trafficking in  Hongkong.

What is the status of FATF Evaluation in Hongkong 

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of countries has not recognized Hongkong as it has not observed any game plan to detect any AML insufficiencies. Hongkong is taking effective steps to combat the illicit crimes that are taking place. The Hongkong’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has a focus of attention regarding the Hongkong Law enforcement agency that is taking steps to combat money laundering activities.

What is Financial Action Task Force

The Financial Action Task Force is regarded as the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. This body is developed to set up the standards with the aim to combat the illegal activities that are taking place in the country. FATF promotes bringing up the national legislative and regulatory reforms in these prone areas.

Countries on the grey list do not suffer as severe repercussions as those on the Black List.  Countries turning a blind eye toward the spread of blatant money laundering and terror funding are placed on the black list. The FATF has likely observed the beginnings of such activities in grey-listed countries. Placing a country on the grey list serves as a sort of warning for them. If they do not take any action against the spread of such activities, the FATF will most likely move them to the Black List. The black list was formerly known as the “Call for action” list and the Grey List “Other monitored jurisdictions.

Overview of the Economy in Hongkong

Hongkong is regarded as a market economy where one can buy or sell the goods that are determined by the free market. The country is reliant to the international trade and finance. Hongkong has not imposed any tariff on the imported goods. There are no quotas or any discarding laws. It also has large supply of labor to the nearby countries.  The financial services, trading and logistics, tourism, producer and professional services are regarded as the 4 main economies of Hongkong.

 How big is AML Challenge in Hongkong

Hongkong’s central bank and the financial regulator is in charge of securing the the country’s financial system as a whole. The main point is to set the Anti Money Laundering challenges. The authority is looking after to take effective steps related to terrorist financing, drug trafficking  etc. Hongkong has also developed the data protection as well as the privacy policy.

AML Certification in Hongkong

The Certified Anti-Money Laundering Professional (CAMP) course is designed to provide you with basic AML concepts. This course is provided by Regtech Times Academy. Regtechtimes Academy in association with Riskpro Learning offers the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Professional (CAMP) program to the international community.  It aims to present the importance of AML compliance while conducting business. It will give one the legislative overview of AML. CAMP is one of the video-based learning AML Certifications in Hongkong in the compliance domain.

Additionally, as Hongkong is facing the problem of money laundering at large, the CAMP course will help them to provide the overall compliance knowledge. The aspirants will also be able to combat the financial crime that is taking place in Hongkong.

Riskpro Learning offers a Certification in Trade-Based Money Laundering course which is a short-term video learning course in the AML domain. Trade finance is a highly specialized area of knowledge. The AML analyst dealing with the TBML alerts often find it difficult to understand the complex documentation, products, and pricing-related issues. Hence, the objective of the TBML certifications is that it will give one the knowledge of Anti-Money Laundering, financing of terrorism, etc.

Learning outcome from AML Certification in Hongkong

The aspirants would get an understanding of the TBML framework as well as the principles. He/ she will get the knowledge of the overall Trade finance domain. Hence, this course would also provide one with the AML requirements in the financial institutions for dealing with the TBML activities for criminals.

Benefits from TBML Course

By doing this course, it would give the aspirants the practical life scenarios that occur in compliance, AML, and Risk-Based domains, the aspirants would get through understanding of Trade-Based Money Laundering, how to identify the early warning signs of suspicious trade transactions, understanding the different methods used by the criminals for trade-based money laundering.

To whom the Trade-Based Money Laundering Course is Applicable

This course is applicable to the following aspirants:

  • Compliance Professionals
  • AML Specialists
  • Risk Management Professionals
  • Trade Finance Managers

Cost of AML Certification in Hongkong

Additionally, Certified Anti-Money Laundering Professional is an international AML Certification in Hongkong  The cost of AML Certification in Hongkong is 2400 HKD for the aspirants who are willing to do this course. The email address to communicate with our team is [email protected]

Prep Course for the AML Certification in Hongkong

In addition to the Certified AML Professional program, Regtechtimes Academy also offers the ACAMS Prep Course for the aspirants looking to take up the CAMS certification from ACAMS, USA. This course is a set of 6 simulated exams which would help the Algerian aspirants to pass their CAMS exams successfully. We offer a very cost-effective model for the CAMS Prep course and accept the payments in local currency.

AML Regulations in Hong Kong

Like regions and countries all over the world, Hong Kong faces threats of money laundering and terrorist financing. Financial crimes have too many negative effects on financial systems. As a financial center, Hong Kong has effective AML laws and regulations to combat financial crime. Nowadays anti-money laundering activities in Hongkong are rising.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) was the sole authority to combat money laundering till a few years back. Some of the legislation in force in Hong Kong to combat financial crime include the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO), the Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds) Ordinance (DTROP), the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO). Therefore, there are the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance (UNATMO) and the United Nations Sanctions Ordinance (UNSO). Hong Kong Financial Regulator creates these laws.

Customer Due Diligence and Record-keeping Requirements in Hong Kong

Banks, financial institutions, insurance agents, and accounting firms operating in Hong Kong are subject to AML regulations. They must comply with AML CFT obligations. Some of these AML obligations are “Customer Due Diligence” and “Record Keeping”. Customer Due Diligence procedures are the controls that companies should apply when starting a business relationship with a customer. With these controls, a risk assessment is applied to the customer. When conducting a customer risk assessment, Know Your Customer procedures are applied first and the customer’s information is collected.

Therefore, one of the controls applied for risk assessment is a sanction, PEP, and adverse media screening. People mentioned in Sanction, that PEP, TF risks, and adverse media data are high-risk customer profiles for companies. Therefore, companies must check the customer on these data before starting a business relationship with a customer. Hence, the suspicious transaction report in Hong Kong reports the suspicious activity of customers detected in financial institutions.

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