Officials from Executive Yuan agencies, the Ministry of Justice and other ministries yesterday released this year’s report on Taiwan’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
Forty-seven government departments and regulatory agencies, and 27 private-sector organizations, mainly in the financial services sector, were involved in compiling data for the 2021 National Money Laundering, TF (Terrorism Financing), PF (Proliferation Financing) Risk Assessment Report, in compliance with Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) regulations.
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) endorsed the findings in the report, which is the second of its kind after the first was published in 2018.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
The huge effort began in March, led by the Executive Yuan’s Anti-Money Laundering Office.
“There were interim evaluations by AGP in past years, in which Taiwan received one of the top ratings in Asia for stemming international money laundering and terrorism financing,” Tsai said. “In the latest APG evaluation this year, Taiwan again finished in the top group in Asia.”
He said that this year’s report, for the first time, looked into the online gambling sector, which has become more popular in recent years, while the other new threats were found in e-gaming and the virtual asset sector — as in cryptocurrencies and virtual currency exchanges.
Other new inclusions were the art auction market, automobile sales and trading, and pawn shops, he said.
Anti-Money Laundering Office Executive Secretary Su Pei-yu (蘇佩鈺) presented the report’s main points.
She said that Taiwan is most vulnerable to 10 forms of criminal activities, with drug trafficking, financial fraud, smuggling, tax evasion and organized crime at the top of the list.
The other five were stock market manipulation or insider trading, unregulated money transfers, illegal online gambling, corruption and bribe-taking by government officials, and infringements on intellectual property rights, Su said.
She said that those at “very high risk” of being targeted by criminal groups for money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing included domestic banks, offshore banking units and the virtual asset sector.
International stock market and securities businesses with offices based in Taiwan, e-gaming companies, foreign banks with branch offices in Taiwan, post offices, domestic securities companies and, accounting firms were rated as “high risk,” she said.
Others rated as “high risk” include gold and jewelry dealers, legal offices, real-estate companies, insurance firms, third-party payment services and agricultural cooperatives that provide financing and loans, as well as the securities investment and trust consulting sector, she said.
Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairperson Hsiao Tsuey-ling (蕭翠玲) said the report would provide useful data for Taiwan’s financial services sector.
“Taiwan’s banks, securities investment and financial service firms, and insurance companies ... can make their own evaluations and monitor those transactions and activities with a high risk of money laundering, or other illegal financing,” Hsiao said.
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