On 4 September 2019, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released the Mutual Evaluation Report on Hong Kong. The report summarises the anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) measures in place in Hong Kong as at the date of the on-site visit from 31 October to 15 November 2018. It also analyses the level of compliance with the FATF’s 40 recommendations and the level of effectiveness of the AML/CFT systems, and provides recommendations on how the system can be strengthened.

Although the report recognises that Hong Kong has a strong legal and institutional framework for combating money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF), in addition to areas of moderate effectiveness and partially technical compliance, the report has highlighted a number of areas that would benefit from a more detailed consideration. KPMG has summarised a selection of key topics from the report for consideration.