Consultation conclusions on proposed amendments to the AML Guidelines of the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”)

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In order to align with the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) standards as amplified by the FATF’s Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach for the Securities Sector (issued in Oct 2018) and to uplift the Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) control environment to address the improvement points observed from the latest FATF Mutual Evaluation Report of Hong Kong (issued in Sep 2019), the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) issued a consultation paper on 18 September 2020 for the proposed amendments to (1) the Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (For Licensed Corporations) (the “AML/CFT Guideline”) and (2) the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Guideline issued by the SFC for Associated Entities (the “Guideline for AEs”), collectively the “SFC AML Guidelines”.

On 15 September 2021, the SFC published the consultation conclusions with the details of the proposed amendments in the SFC AML Guidelines.

This publication provides a high level summary of the proposed amendments of the regulatory requirements of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (“AML/CFT”) for Licensed Corporations (“LCs”) in Hong Kong. Mazars in Hong Kong is here to assist you in complying with the relevant regulatory requirements, depending on the scope, coverage, and specifics of your needs.