Victory For Taiwan As It's Dropped From Anti-Money Laundering Watchlist

Josh O'Neill

27 July 2017

An Asia-Pacific money laundering watchdog has dropped Taiwan from its list of jurisdictions deemed to have flawed anti-money laundering controls, a sign that the nation is succeeding in stymying the flow of dirty cash.

Removal from the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering's watchlist is a victory for Taiwan, known as a supply hub for Apple and other global companies, but also as a haven for washing dirty money.

Taiwan was the only jurisdiction removed from the 10-member watchlist following a meeting of the group last week in Sri Lanka, deputy justice minister Tsai Pi-chung said, according to Reuters.

"We have revised anti-money laundering regulations that were just implemented last month and we have established a cyber security protocol," said Tsai. "All of our revised legal standards have demonstrated our determination to fight money laundering and carry out reforms."

Countries on the list are Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The APG is an associate member of the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-corruption body, and as a result has access to its policy-making and standards-setting process. APG members are committed to adopting FATF recommendations to tackle money laundering.