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Circulars & Guidance Papers

Circulars aim to inform AIs of new regulatory requirements with which AIs should comply, as well as the local and international development on AML/CFT.

Guidance papers aim to provide practical guidance to assist AIs and their senior management in designing and implementing their own policies, procedures and controls in the relevant operational areas, taking into consideration their special circumstances, so as to meet the relevant AML/CFT statutory and regulatory requirements.

Recent circulars and guidance papers can be found on this webpage.  Circulars that are outdated or superseded by subsequent documents are housed under Archive section.

 

Circulars

DocumentDate
Thematic Review of Transaction Monitoring Systems and Use of Artificial Intelligence (PDF File, 133.7 KB)
Thematic Review of Transaction Monitoring Systems and Use of Artificial Intelligence
Encl. Insights for design implementation and optimisation of Transaction Monitoring Systems (PDF File, 3.1 MB)
 17 Apr 2024
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 181.4 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 05 Mar 2024
Effective Execution of Risk-based Approach for Customer Due Diligence (PDF File, 130.9 KB)
Effective Execution of Risk-based Approach for Customer Due Diligence
 08 Feb 2024
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Surveillance Capability Enhancement Project (PDF File, 135.6 KB)
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Surveillance Capability Enhancement Project
Encl. The Digitalisation of AML / CFT Supervision: Where Now and What Next? (PDF File, 2.3 MB)
 07 Feb 2024
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 183.6 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 07 Nov 2023
Enhanced approaches to combat digital fraud (PDF File, 196.5 KB)
Enhanced approaches to combat digital fraud
 12 Oct 2023
Report on “AML/CFT Regtech: Case Studies and Insights Volume 2’’ (PDF File, 149.9 KB)
Report on “AML/CFT Regtech: Case Studies and Insights Volume 2’’
Annex “AML/CFT Regtech: Case Studies and Insights Volume 2’’ (PDF File, 17.5 MB)
 25 Sep 2023
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 181.7 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 06 Jul 2023
Amendments to Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (For Authorized Institutions) (PDF File, 188.2 KB)
Amendments to Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (For Authorized Institutions)
Enclosure 1: Consultation Conclusions (PDF File, 511.0 KB)
Enclosure 2: Marked-up version of AML-CFT Guideline (PDF File, 1.1 MB)
 25 May 2023
Access to banking services for corporate customers (PDF File, 282.2 KB)
Access to banking services for corporate customers
 27 Apr 2023
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 181.9 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 09 Mar 2023
Balanced and effective AML/CFT measures in private banking (PDF File, 156.8 KB)
Balanced and effective AML/CFT measures in private banking
Annex - Smart tips for Private Banking (PDF File, 731.3 KB)
 07 Mar 2023
Optimising Fraud and Financial Crime Detection and Reporting (PDF File, 164.0 KB)
Optimising Fraud and Financial Crime Detection and Reporting
Annex Optimising Fraud and Financial Crime Detection and Reporting (PDF File, 136.2 KB)
Encl. Guidance Paper on Transaction Monitoring, Screening and Suspicious Transaction Reporting (Revised in February 2023) (PDF File, 359.2 KB)
 09 Feb 2023
Passage of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Bill 2022 (PDF File, 205.3 KB)
Passage of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Bill 2022
 07 Dec 2022
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 207.0 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 07 Nov 2022
Joint Efforts against Fraud and Financial Crime (PDF File, 146.2 KB)
Joint Efforts against Fraud and Financial Crime
 06 Oct 2022
Hong Kong Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment Report 2022 (2022 HRA) (PDF File, 193.0 KB)
Hong Kong Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment Report 2022 (2022 HRA)
 08 Jul 2022
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 147.5 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 30 Jun 2022
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 210.2 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 11 Mar 2022
Regulatory approaches to Authorized Institutions’ interface with Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers (PDF File, 267.8 KB)
Regulatory approaches to Authorized Institutions’ interface with Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers
 28 Jan 2022
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 154.5 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 02 Nov 2021
Supporting the Use of New Technologies for AML/CFT: Suggested Actions for the Hong Kong Banking Sector (PDF File, 200.0 KB)
Supporting the Use of New Technologies for AML/CFT: Suggested Actions for the Hong Kong Banking Sector
 11 Aug 2021
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 146.4 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 08 Jul 2021
Remote on-boarding and iAM Smart (PDF File, 206.2 KB)
Remote on-boarding and iAM Smart
 24 May 2021
Feedback from Thematic Review of the Use of External Information and Data in Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Systems (PDF File, 170.9 KB)
Feedback from Thematic Review of the Use of External Information and Data in Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Systems
Encl. Key observations and good practices in the use of external information and data in AML/CFT systems (PDF File, 627.9 KB)
 26 Apr 2021
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 144.3 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 10 Mar 2021
Report on “AML/CFT Regtech: Case Studies and Insights” (PDF File, 229.6 KB)
Report on “AML/CFT Regtech: Case Studies and Insights”
Encl. AML/CFT Regtech: Case Studies and Insights (PDF File, 14.4 MB)
 21 Jan 2021
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) risks – An Update (PDF File, 195.1 KB)
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (ML/TF) risks – An Update
 31 Dec 2020
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 153.6 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 11 Nov 2020
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Surveillance Capability Enhancement Project (PDF File, 155.9 KB)
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Surveillance Capability Enhancement Project
Encl. AML/CFT Supervision in the Age of Digital Innovation (PDF File, 4.6 MB)
 29 Sep 2020
Remote on-boarding of corporate customers (PDF File, 78.5 KB)
Remote on-boarding of corporate customers
 24 Sep 2020
Financial Sanctions (PDF File, 356.5 KB)
Financial Sanctions
 08 Aug 2020
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures - An Update (PDF File, 245.9 KB)
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures - An Update
Encl. AML/CFT control measures applied by AIs in response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (PDF File, 576.9 KB)
 30 Jul 2020
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 150.0 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 17 Jul 2020
Feedback from recent thematic reviews of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) control measures for remote customer on-boarding initiatives (PDF File, 153.1 KB)
Feedback from recent thematic reviews of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) control measures for remote customer on-boarding initiatives
Encl. Key observations and good practices in AML/CFT control measures for remote customer on-boarding initiatives (PDF File, 431.5 KB)
 03 Jun 2020
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures (PDF File, 128.9 KB)
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures
 07 Apr 2020
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 219.8 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 11 Mar 2020
HKMA AML/CFT RegTech Forum, 22 and 25 November 2019 – Record of Discussion (PDF File, 185.9 KB)
HKMA AML/CFT RegTech Forum, 22 and 25 November 2019 – Record of Discussion
Encl. 1 Record of Discussion (PDF File, 1.6 MB)
 23 Dec 2019
Managing ML/TF risks associated with virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) (PDF File, 167.9 KB)
Managing ML/TF risks associated with virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs)
 16 Dec 2019
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 69.1 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 24 Oct 2019
FATF Mutual Evaluation Report of Hong Kong (For Authorized Institutions) (PDF File, 169.1 KB)
FATF Mutual Evaluation Report of Hong Kong (For Authorized Institutions)
 04 Sep 2019
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 153.5 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 28 Jun 2019
Feedback from Thematic Review of AIs’ Application of AML/CFT Controls in the SME Segment (PDF File, 131.4 KB)
Feedback from Thematic Review of AIs’ Application of AML/CFT Controls in the SME Segment
 14 Jun 2019
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 153.6 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 08 Mar 2019
Remote on-boarding of individual customers (PDF File, 71.9 KB)
Remote on-boarding of individual customers
 01 Feb 2019
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force (PDF File, 152.7 KB)
Statements issued by the Financial Action Task Force
 09 Nov 2018
Frequently Asked Questions in relation to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (PDF File, 65.2 KB)
Frequently Asked Questions in relation to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism
 31 Oct 2018
Supervisory Policy Manual (SPM): AML-1 “Supervisory Approach on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism” (For Authorized Institutions) (PDF File, 66.3 KB)
Supervisory Policy Manual (SPM): AML-1 “Supervisory Approach on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism” (For Authorized Institutions)
 19 Oct 2018
Amendments to Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (For Authorized Institutions) (PDF File, 69.5 KB)
Amendments to Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (For Authorized Institutions)
 19 Oct 2018
United Nations Sanctions (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Regulation (PDF File, 83.0 KB)
United Nations Sanctions (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Regulation
 13 Jul 2018
Strengthening Information and Intelligence Sharing (PDF File, 43.4 KB)
Strengthening Information and Intelligence Sharing
Encl. 1 Guidance Paper on Transaction Screening, Transaction Monitoring and Suspicious Transaction Reporting (Revised in May 2018) (PDF File, 540.5 KB)
Encl. 2 Guidance Paper on Transaction Screening, Transaction Monitoring and Suspicious Transaction Reporting (Revised in May 2018) (marked-up version) (PDF File, 558.1 KB)
 10 May 2018
Hong Kong Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment Report (Report) (For Authorized Institutions) (PDF File, 70.9 KB)
Hong Kong Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment Report (Report) (For Authorized Institutions)
Encl. 1 Seminar Details (PDF File, 29.1 KB)
Encl. 2 Registration Form (PDF File, 13.2 KB)
Seminar material: Hong Kong Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment Report (Banking Sector) (PDF File, 688.7 KB)
 02 May 2018
Amendments to Guideline on Exercising Power to Impose Pecuniary Penalty under s 23(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (For Authorized Institutions) (PDF File, 78.5 KB)
Amendments to Guideline on Exercising Power to Impose Pecuniary Penalty under s 23(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (For Authorized Institutions)
27 Apr 2018
Feedback from Recent Thematic Review of AIs' Sanctions Screening Systems (PDF File, 113.9 KB)
Feedback from Recent Thematic Review of AIs' Sanctions Screening Systems
 12 Apr 2018
FATF Guidance on Counter Proliferation Financing (PDF File, 71.2 KB)
FATF Guidance on Counter Proliferation Financing
 08 Mar 2018
Circular on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 (PDF File, 76.4 KB)
Circular on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2018
 02 Feb 2018
Circular on Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorist Financing : United Nations Sanctions (PDF File, 99.0 KB)
Circular on Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorist Financing : United Nations Sanctions
 31 Jan 2018
Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing – Address Verification Requirements (PDF File, 91.4 KB)
Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing – Address Verification Requirements
 11 Oct 2017
Circular on Combating Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Activities (PDF File, 85.2 KB)
Circular on Combating Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Activities
 17 Aug 2017
Circular on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) (Amendment) Bill 2017 (PDF File, 65.2 KB)
Circular on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) (Amendment) Bill 2017
 23 Jun 2017
Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (PDF File, 131.1 KB)
Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters
 11 Oct 2016
De-risking and Financial Inclusion (PDF File, 125.9 KB)
De-risking and Financial Inclusion
 08 Sep 2016
United Nations Security Council Resolution concerning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Combating Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Activities (PDF File, 66.7 KB)
United Nations Security Council Resolution concerning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Combating Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Activities
 18 Mar 2016
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision revised the “General guide to account opening” (PDF File, 63.6 KB)
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision revised the “General guide to account opening”
 19 Feb 2016
Guidance Paper on Anti-Money Laundering Controls over Tax Evasion (PDF File, 100.0 KB)
Guidance Paper on Anti-Money Laundering Controls over Tax Evasion
Encl Guidance Paper (PDF File, 266.3 KB)
 31 Mar 2015
AML/CFT web page and revised approach to inform AIs of updates to the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance and United Nations Sanctions Ordinance (PDF File, 100.9 KB)
AML/CFT web page and revised approach to inform AIs of updates to the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance and United Nations Sanctions Ordinance
 30 Dec 2014
FATF Risk-Based Approach Guidance for the Banking Sector and Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment (PDF File, 109.6 KB)
FATF Risk-Based Approach Guidance for the Banking Sector and Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment
 19 Dec 2014
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in the US (PDF File, 69.9 KB)
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in the US
 13 Nov 2014
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's Paper on “Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism” (PDF File, 77.2 KB)
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's Paper on “Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism”
 10 Feb 2014
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in the U.S. (PDF File, 96.5 KB)
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in the U.S.
 19 Aug 2013
Tax Evasion (PDF File, 50.8 KB)
Tax Evasion
 07 Jun 2013
Revised FATF Recommendations (PDF File, 39.9 KB)
Revised FATF Recommendations
 28 Sep 2012
Guidance Paper on Cover Payment Messages Related to Cross-border Wire Transfers
Guidance Paper on Cover Payment Messages Related to Cross-border Wire Transfers
 08 Feb 2010
Account Opening for Ethnic Minorities
Account Opening for Ethnic Minorities
 28 Jan 2010
Consultation on Enhancement of AML Regulatory Regime for Financial Sectors
Consultation on Enhancement of AML Regulatory Regime for Financial Sectors
 14 Jul 2009
Risk Classification of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs)
Risk Classification of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs)
 23 Dec 2008
Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Activities
Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Activities
 14 Nov 2005
Guidance Papers

DocumentDate
Guidance Paper on Transaction Monitoring, Screening, and Suspicious Transaction Reporting (Revised in February 2023) (PDF File, 359.2 KB)
Guidance Paper on Transaction Monitoring, Screening, and Suspicious Transaction Reporting (Revised in February 2023)
09 Feb 2023
Guidance Paper on Anti-Money Laundering Controls over Tax Evasion (March 2015) (PDF File, 271.4 KB)
Guidance Paper on Anti-Money Laundering Controls over Tax Evasion (March 2015)
 31 Mar 2015
Other Topics about Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism
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Last revision date : 17 April 2024