Financial Crime World

Taiwan’s Crackdown on Financial Crimes: APG Report Praises Efforts, Recommends Enhancements

The Asian Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) has released its latest evaluation report on Taiwan’s (Chinese Taipei) anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) measures. The report, adopted during the APG’s annual meeting in August 2019, commends Taiwan for its progress in enhancing the financial crime prevention framework but also offers recommendations for further improvements.

Executive Summary

Taiwan, a jurisdiction within the APG’s purview since 2002, has made significant strides in addressing AML/CTF risks since early 2017. This progress is due to stronger political commitment, increased resources, effective coordination, and efforts to strengthen the culture and practice of risk management.

Key findings of the assessment include:

  1. Risk Assessment: Taiwan has made significant strides in understanding its ML/TF risks. Its public National Risk Assessment (NRA) and other internal assessments serve as a solid foundation for shaping national and agency-level policies and activities.
  2. Collaboration and Cooperation: Authorities’ collaboration and cooperation on ML/TF issues have improved significantly.
  3. Financial Intelligence: Financial intelligence plays a crucial role in ML and predicate offense investigations.
  4. Sanctions Implementation: Taiwan has strong policies and operational mechanisms to implement targeted financial sanctions (TFS).
  5. Effectiveness: Taiwan’s ML/TF system demonstrates notable effectiveness in key areas like addressing ML risks, cooperation among stakeholders, and international cooperation.

Key Findings and Recommendations

Findings

  1. ML/TF Risks Understood: Taiwan has made significant strides in understanding its ML/TF risks.
  2. Improved Collaboration: Authorities’ collaboration and cooperation on ML/TF issues have improved.
  3. Role of Financial Intelligence: Financial intelligence is crucial for ML and predicate offense investigations.
  4. Effective Sanctions Implementation: Taiwan has strong policies and operational mechanisms for TFS implementation.
  5. Notable Effectiveness: Taiwan’s ML/TF system demonstrates notable effectiveness in key areas.

Recommendations

  1. Enhance Preventive Measures: Strengthen legal and regulatory frameworks for effective preventive measures implementation.
  2. Supervision: Strengthen the supervisory system and capacity for overseeing compliant behavior by financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions.
  3. Suspicious Transactions: Establish effective reporting mechanisms for suspicious transactions, tipping-off, and confidentiality within the financial sector.
  4. International Cooperation: Enhance international cooperation and information exchange with other jurisdictions on ML/TF matters.

APG Evaluation Report

The APG’s comprehensive evaluation report offers a detailed analysis of Taiwan’s progress and recommendations for further improvement. By implementing the proposed enhancements, Taiwan can continue strengthening its position against financial crimes and contributing to the global efforts to combat these illicit activities.