Circular to Licensed Corporations, SFC-licensed Virtual Asset Service Providers and Associated Entities – Anti-Money Laundering / Counter-Financing of Terrorism Webinar Materials

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, SFC, has published a circular to inform financial market participants about the availability of material relating to the webinar on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) that took place on November 15 and November 16, 2023. The webinar addressed / included the following main topics:
(1) recent major AML/CFT regulatory developments
(2) supervisory observations relating to AML and CFT among supervised firms
(3) current trends in scams and the identification of victims to such
(4) the presentation of proliferation financing risks in Hong Kong and risk mitigation
(5) current money laundering „typologies and feedback on the suspicious transaction reporting of the securities sector“.
The material includes the following documents which are also available at the website of the SFC:
(1) General Material to the Webinar which includes slides on the particular ML and CFT risks associated with virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and the requirements of VASPs to mitigate those risks, major AML/CFT regulatory developments and on inspection findings and other supervisory observations on AML/CFT. It also provides illustrative examples of „good“ and „bad“ AML/CFT practices of supervised firms.
(2) Material Issued by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau which demonstrates the evolving nature of proliferation financing and the efforts of firms and governments – both at an international and local level – as regards risk mitigation.
(3) Material on „Latest trends in scams and how to identify scam victims“ which describes the common typologies of such scams, including investment scams, and ways for firms to identify scammed customers.
(4) A presentation about „Methods of Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing And Suspicious Transaction Reporting“ issued by the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit which presents the key AML/CFT regulations in Hong Kong, describes how money laundering is conducted, and explains how to go about and best file suspicious transaction reports.