Financial Action Task Force Set to Rate Hong Kong “Compliant” in Anti-Money Laundering Evaluation

According to a press release by its government, Hong Kong is set to receive an overall rating of “compliant” in what will be its Fourth Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation, scheduled to be released in September 2019. The expected rating represents a significant improvement over the partially compliant rating assigned to Hong Kong on several key and core recommendations in its third mutual evaluation report, which was issued in July 2008.

This article provides a background on Hong Kong’s rigorous efforts to combat money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) and explains what the evaluation means for the Hong Kong authorities and the financial services industry.