[Hong
Kong] Hong Kong Customs cracks down on money laundering syndicate involving
$2.5 billion
HKSAR Press Releases, 22
Apr 2021
Hong Kong Customs mounted
an operation between April 15 and 19. A money laundering syndicate has been
smashed successfully while the amount involved in the case has reached $2.5
billion. Six persons were arrested. Initial investigation revealed that the six
arrested persons had opened about 60 personal bank accounts at various banks in
Hong Kong and had made over 2600 suspicious transactions involving $2.5 billion
in total between January 2018 and February 2020.
Full text: click here
[Hong
Kong] SFC revokes IDS Forex HK Limited’s licence and bans its former co-CEOs
for life
SFC
Enforcement News, 22 Apr 2021
The SFC has
revoked the licence of IDS Forex HK Limited (IDS Forex) and banned its former
co-chief executive officers, Mr Chung Wooman and Mr Ki Bonggan, from
re-entering the industry for life. The disciplinary action follows an SFC
investigation triggered by a self-report by IDS Forex’s then responsible
officers in June 2017. They informed the
SFC that IDS Forex’s sole shareholder, Mr Kim Sunghun, was convicted and
sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment in Korea in February 2017 for illegal
fundraising and fraud after his arrest there in September 2016. The fraudulent scheme involved Kim soliciting
investors between 2011 and 2016 to invest in his purported overseas business,
including margin forex business. The evidence shows that Chung and Ki became
aware of Kim’s arrest and conviction shortly after the events, but Ki did not
report the matter until the SFC’s inspection in June 2017 and Chung stayed
silent all the while. The SFC considers
that their failures in this regard show a lack of integrity and reliability on
the parts of IDS Forex and its former senior management.
Full text: click here
[Hong Kong] SFC and
Police joint operation against listed company and senior executives
SFC Enforcement News, 22
Apr 2021
The SFC and Commercial Crime Bureau of the
Police conducted a joint operation against a syndicate suspected of market
misconduct and fraud. The SFC conducted the search with the Police under the
Securities and Futures Ordinance for offences related to market manipulation
and other market misconduct. Regarding the fraud investigations by the Police,
four persons were arrested at various locations in the territory for offences
of conspiracy to defraud. They included
three senior executives of the listed company who are alleged to have conspired
to use bogus transactions to embezzle funds of the company involving over $19
million. All arrested persons are now
detained by the Police for further enquiries.
Full text: click here
[Hong Kong] Revised SPM
Module CA-B-2: Systemically Important Banks
HKMA Circular, 23 Apr
2021
The HKMA published the captioned revised
Supervisory Policy Manual (SPM) module as statutory guidance, by notice in the
Gazette, under section 7(3) of the Banking Ordinance. The revisions mainly aim
at (i) improving the assessment of Authorized Institutions’ complexity in HKMA’s
domestic systemically important bank identification process, and (ii) updating
various sections of the SPM module to reflect recent developments.
Full text: click here;
Encl.: click here
[Hong Kong] Feedback from
Thematic Review of the Use of External Information and Data in Anti-Money
Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Systems
HKMA Circular, 26 Apr
2021
This circular share key observations and
good practices from a thematic review of how Authorized Institutions (AIs)
integrate various external source information and data into their AML/CFT
control systems to enhance effectiveness. The thematic review examined AIs’
end-to-end processes in handling and using information and data from various
sources, including intelligence received from the Fraud and Money Laundering
Intelligence Taskforce (FMLIT), and how this contributed to their input into
the wider AML/CFT ecosystem, such as suspicious transaction reports and
interception of funds suspected to be related to fraud.
Full text: click here; Encl: click here
[Singapore] MAS report on
critical infrastructure for an inclusive digital economy
MAS News, 26 Apr 2021
The MAS launched a report on the
foundational digital infrastructure necessary for an inclusive digital economy
and seamless cross-border transactions around the world. The report highlights
four key pillars that underpin effective foundational digital infrastructures,
including Digital Identity, Authorisation and Consent, Payments
Interoperability and Data Exchange. The next phase of the initiative will focus
on building a consortium of countries who are keen to explore the digital
infrastructure potential for cross-border use.
