Marzunisham Omar: Welcoming remarks - 23rd Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) Typologies Workshop Welcoming remarks by Mr Marzunisham Omar, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the 23rd Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) Typologies Workshop, 9 November 2021. * * * It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the 23rd APG Typologies Workshop. This is the second time the Annual Typologies Workshop is held virtually. Malaysia is pleased to jointly host the Workshop with the APG Secretariat. After more than a year of COVID-19, the past few months have seen the ease of the pandemic and the lifting of restrictions by most countries. Despite the challenging environment, it is encouraging to note that the authorities remain vigilant in the fight against money laundering (ML), terrorism financing (TF) and proliferation financing (PF). Indeed, we are facing new and increasing challenges following the increasing sophistication of financial tools and products. This morning, allow me to share four observations on the recent developments and challenges that are pertinent in strengthening AML/CFT/CPF measures. First, on therapid changes of ML/TF/PF methods and risks that are driven by technology. As the shift towards digitalisation especially in the financial industry accelerates, the emerging risks presented are intensifying. The rapid change in technology sometimes result in AML/CFT/CPF measures undertaken by authorities to be reactive. For example, we see this in the virtual asset sector given its rapid development and widespread innovations.
Given the significant potential of PPP, we have identified it as one of the APG Co-Chairs’ Priorities and we have also successfully conducted the first part of the PPP Technical Seminar in July this year. For the upcoming PPP sessions in this Workshop, I believe speakers will explore more advanced topics including the operational and technical challenges of diverse PPP arrangements as well as the future of PPP, especially in relation to possible regional collaborative efforts. I trust that this would bring the conversation to the next level and encourage similar set-ups by other APG members. The third observation is on changes in the international AML/CFT/CPF standards . The FATF is continuously enhancing its Standards through various workstreams to ensure the availability of up-to-date policy responses and to facilitate better incorporation of the Standards into domestic laws and regulations. As you are aware, a recent change to the FATF Standards was the introduction of a requirement to identify and assess the risks of potential breaches, nonimplementation or evasion of the targeted financial sanctions related to PF and to take action to mitigate these risks. As authorities and the private sector are expected to promptly take necessary steps to implement this new requirement, it is timely for our Workshop to have further discussions on this matter. Compared to ML and TF, proliferation financing is usually considered a relatively new area and less understood.