Development of Renminbi business in Hong Kong (2015/01/07) 

MR YIU SI-WING: President, in part (3) of the main reply, the authorities pointed out that the relevant regulatory authorities had issued guidelines to assist financial institutions in formulating and implementing their own anti-money laundering policies, so as to meet the statutory requirements. May I ask about the effectiveness of the guidelines issued? How do various financial institutions follow the guidelines?

SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY: President, I do not have on hand any data or information in this regard, but certainly, over the past many years, we have all along been committed to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and in many cases, we have also initiated prosecutions.

At the international level, actions taken by Hong Kong in this regard are recognized by international bodies. Our work in this area makes the grade. Therefore, in view of the rising trend of cross-border fund activities, our existing anti-money laundering ordinance is sufficiently extensive to cover such financial institutions as banks, securities firms, insurers and brokers, remittance agents and money changers for the reason that we have to carry out the operations on a comprehensive scale.