According to the mutual evaluation assessment follow-up procedure established by the international anti-money laundering organization Financial Action Task Force (FATF), jurisdictions that are assessed as having serious deficiencies after undergoing their mutual evaluation will be included in the monitoring list of FATF. The International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG), which is under FATF, is responsible for listing the jurisdictions. There are a total 23 members included in the FATF list of “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring” as at June 2022, 4 of which are Asia-Pacific region members. Since late April 2020, the Financial Intelligence Office (GIF) has sent a delegate to chair and participate in the virtual meetings of the “Asia- Pacific Joint Group” (APJG), one of the four joint groups of ICRG. The reviewers participating are from 11 jurisdictions or international organizations and the Macao SAR is also one of them.

During May, 2022, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the border control measures in different regions, the organizer arranged the meeting to be held in a hybrid format, that is, in face-to-face and virtual formats simultaneously. The face-to-face meeting was attended by about 100 member’s representatives in person, and more than 60 member’s representatives participated in virtual format. In accordance with the anti- pandemic measures of the Macao SAR Government, GIF participated in a total of 15 virtual meetings of the APJG, and as one of the co-chairs to follow up and review the progress in AML/CFT areas of the 4 jurisdictions.

The delegate of GIF chaired the APJG virtual meeting

Since Macao SAR participates in the APJG, two Asia-Pacific region members have made significant progress in the areas of AML/CFT, and one of them was successfully removed from the monitoring list. On the other hand, if the jurisdictions that are included in FATF monitoring list “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring” fail to demonstrate sufficient follow-up actions/progress within the specific time period, they may eventually be listed in the “High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action” of FATF. This list is often known as the "blacklist", members may impose sanctions on the "blacklisted" jurisdictions, and the consequences may seriously affect economic development in those jurisdictions.

The above mentioned monitoring lists can be found on the website of FATF (https://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/high-risk-and-other-monitored-jurisdictions/?hf=10&b=0&s=desc(fatf_releasedate)) and GIF (https://www.gif.gov.mo/en/standard/highriskjurisdict.html).