This is a joint initiative by the Association of Banks in Malaysia and supported by the Royal Malaysian Police and Bank Negara Malaysia. To coordinate and expedite actions against the operators of financial scams, a taskforce led by the Attorney-General’s Chambers has also been established under the National Coordination Committee to Counter Money Laundering. Our regulatory approach will continue to strike a right balance between innovation and the stability of the system. We are ready to adapt regulations to support emerging technologies and changing business and operational models when they bring clear benefits to our financial system and economy, and when the risks are well-understood and managed. New requirements for eKYC solutions that were recently released for industry feedback are an example of this. We will also be releasing guidelines for digital currencies by the end of this year to address risks associated with money laundering and terrorism financing. Last but not least, let me state that Bank Negara Malaysia values our cross-border partnerships with financial intelligence and law enforcement agencies. We will continue to cooperate constructively with our counterparts, including through our membership in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), to safeguard the integrity of the global financial system. This partnership at the international level is increasingly critical as money laundering and terrorism financing transcend borders. More importantly, our efforts are to secure the future of our economy and the trust of our people by effectively preventing abuses of the financial system for criminal purposes.
If this is the case, then indeed the rules are just ‘burdens’, rather than instruments to assist banks’ operations and safeguard confidence in the financial system. Compliance therefore, is merely a means to an end. It is a process that enables us to achieve certain outcomes. Having the right controls in place merely gets us to the starting line. The real race is in creating and sustaining an environment where everyone in the organisation is involved 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  in preventing the systematic abuse of the financial system. This process is not a sprint, but a marathon of endurance and perseverance. To drive the point, someone once asked, “How many compliance officers does it take to change a lightbulb?” The answer is three, one to change it, one to check it and one to check it again, and file a report. This illustrates how compliance can often be seen as an end to itself, forgetting that it should be focusing on the end game, the quality of light emitted. From the regulator’s perspective, rules have progressively evolved from detailed prescriptions in the past, to standards and best practices today. This is due to the rapid pace of innovation, increasing complexity of financial services and the realisation, that a ‘one-size-fits-all’, micromanaging and prescription-based approach is not an optimal approach in regulation. Thus, institutions have more latitude in implementing these standards at the micro level.