Background and History

Over the past several decades, money laundering has become an increasingly prevalent issue. Both financial institutions and governments are constantly looking for new ways to fight money launderers, and several anti-money laundering policies have been put in place to help this effort.

Anti-money laundering laws entered the global arena soon after the Financial Action Task Force was created. The FATF was responsible for the creation of most anti-money laundering standards, and it made a framework for countries to follow. After putting this framework into effect, the FATF then began to systematically identify countries that did not have proper legislation regarding money laundering. Since then, the anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) risk continues to be a major concern for regulators in Hong Kong and several authorized institutions.