HONG KONG, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's banking regulator
said the financial hub was committed to meeting international
standards on anti-money laundering, after media reports that
some leading banks had moved large sums of allegedly illicit
funds over nearly two decades despite red flags about the
money's origin.
The BuzzFeed and other media articles were based on leaked
suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed by banks and other
financial firms with the U.S. Department of Treasury's Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen).
A Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) spokeswoman said it
was "aware of relevant news reports but (does) not discuss
individual cases".
"The HKMA requires banks to implement effective anti money
laundering (AML) and counter financing of terrorist (CFT)
systems including detecting and reporting suspicious
transactions to law enforcement agencies for investigation."
The HKMA's "risk-based AML/CFT supervision is assessed by
the international standard setter, Financial Action Task Force,
as effective and in line with international standards," the
spokeswoman added.
(Reporting by Alun John and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Gareth
Jones)