Thailand
Laos seeks anti-money laundering cooperation with overseas partners
Laos is seeking technical assistance and close cooperation with various foreign countries to ensure progressive results in addressing Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
A few months ago, Laos graduated from the Grey’ list, which was approved by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but the government is still pushing forward its efforts to ensure financial and economic order, stability and security.
To ensure the implementation of the framework of AML/CFT is effectively carried out, the 3rd Ordinary Session held in Vientiane on Monday aimed to discuss future plans and the introduction of 40 new recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force.
The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mr Somdy Duangdy, who is also President of the National Committee for AML/CFT.
Mr Somdy called for the Anti-Money Laundering Intelligence Office under the Bank of the Lao PDR to increase AML/CFT cooperation between government agencies as well as foreign countries to ensure more achievements in the future.
In the years to come, we have to increase our domestic and international cooperation in order to produce fruitful achievements in accordance with the guidance of the FATF, he said.
He also said the Anti-Money Laundering Intelligence Office had to work harder to be well prepared for the future Memorandum of Understanding with foreign countries on technical cooperation, especially for the capacity building of Lao personnel in the AML office.
The AML Office has partnered with the Republic of Korea and the World Bank in capacity building and is now looking forward to receiving official approval from the government for further cooperation with Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, United States of America, India and New Zealand.
As a member of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering, Laos was firstly evaluated by FATF’s Asia-Pacific Group in 2010 which indicated Laos had AML/CFT deficiencies.
This resulted in Laos being placed on the Grey list but the country worked hard and graduated from the list, which was approved by the Financial Action Task Force in recent months.
Despite the fact that Laos has not yet faced serious issues in terms of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, it still needs to strictly follow the guidelines of government and international banking regulatory bodies to prevent all forms of illegal money laundering.
Laos needed to provide regular reports of its AML/CFT situation to the Financial Action Task Force and would receive a second AML/CFT assessment by the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering in 2020-21, according to the office.
Source: http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/FreeContent/FreeConten_Laos_231.htm