With the easing of COVID-19 epidemic, the flow of visitors and economic activities are resuming to normal levels, various industries are gradually shifting their focus from combating the pandemic to promoting economic recovery. In this post-epidemic era, measures to prevent and combat financial crimes are bound to be indispensable for economic recovery. In view of this, the Financial Intelligence Office (GIF) held "The 10th Joint Meeting on Prevention and Suppression of Financial Crimes" for the financial sector in Macao on 19 June 2023. With an aim of raising their awareness of the risk of potential financial crimes through experience sharing and information dissemination, and deepen their overall understanding of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.

The compliance officers and relevant representatives from all banks in Macao were invited and about 50 representatives attended the meeting. During the meeting, Ms Fong Iun Kei, Acting Director of GIF, introduced the latest round of risk assessments on money laundering and terrorism financing activities in Macao. Representatives of GIF explained the statistical data and latest trends of suspicious transaction reports that related to the financial industry in Macao, as well as introduced the additional functions of the Online Suspicious Transaction Reporting System. Afterwards, the parties exchanged practical experiences in current work of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, and jointly discussed various measures to effectively prevent and combat potential financial crimes, so as to enhance the ability of identifying suspicious transactions.

GIF will continue to promote cooperation between the public and private sectors through regular exchanges with the financial sector, and deepen their awareness of preventive measures against anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. With an aim of reducing the risk of the financial system being utilized for laundering the crime proceeds, and contribute to the steady development of the financial market in Macao. All participants gave positive and affirmative evaluations, the meeting was concluded successfully with active interactions and yielded abundant harvest.