At a time when China is taking a stricter stance on financial irregularities the U.S. based Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists has opened an office in Hong Kong.
Gregory Calpakis, a certified anti-money laundering specialist and executive director of ACAMS, said that because Hong Kong is one of the world's financial centers ACAMS was thrilled with the opportunity to establish a local presence to help further anti-money laundering awareness and establish a network of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing professionals in Asia.
ACAMS plans to establish appropriate region-specific training such as on-site seminars and web seminars, establish local chapters and grow its membership base throughout Asia in order to foster regulatory cooperation and professional networking.
According to ACAMS, with the accession of China into the Financial Action Task Force in 2007, and both India and Korea granted observer status, Asia is set to play a bigger role in shaping the AML/CFT landscape. For example, according to the 2007 China Anti-money Laundering Report released by the People's Bank of China, 4,533 financial institutions in China were subject to on-site inspection by the central bank in 2007, and 350 of these were punished for infringements of the regulations with the total fines amounting to CNY26.52 million.
