Suspicious Financial Transaction Reports Surge For Hong Kong Investigators - Report

Tom Burroughes

2 February 2015

Police investigators working in Hong Kong’s battle against money launderers receive more than 100 suspected cases a day, a rate that is almost double the level of three years ago, according to the South China Morning Post.

There were 37,188 suspicious transaction reports filed last year, compared with 32,907 in 2013, the publication said, citing figures from the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit.

The rise comes at a time when authorities in China are seeking to crack down on corruption, a long-standing problem in the world’s second-largest economy.

The data also reveals the first reports from auction houses, with 31 suspicious transaction reports made between 2012 and 2014. During this period, Hong Kong surpassed global auction hubs New York and London in a range of record-breaking sales in items such as jewellery, the publication noted.

Sotheby's and Christie's, the auction houses, declined to state how many suspicious transaction reports they had made globally, the report said, but they emphasised their compliance efforts.
The banking sector accounted for most of the suspicious reports with 31,000 or about 84 per cent, followed by money service operators and insurance and securities firms, the report said.