Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories & List of names for suspicious account reporting

Our Ref:

B10/1C

5 March 2004

The Chief Executive
All Authorized Institutions

Dear Sir / Madam,

Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories & List of names for suspicious account reporting

I am writing to inform you of the latest developments in the following areas:

Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCTs)

The FATF has recently removed Ukraine and Egypt from the list of NCCTs due to substantial reforms they made in improving their anti-money laundering regimes. The list of countries remaining as designated NCCTs now includes: Cook Islands, Guatemala, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria and the Philippines. The FATF has also decided to maintain the current counter-measures against Myanmar and Nauru. The related press release issued by the FATF can be found on its homepage (http://www.fatf-gafi.org/). You are reminded to take appropriate action to reflect this change in the account opening and monitoring procedures.

List of names for suspicious account reporting - US Executive Order and Government Gazette

Further to my letter of 12 February 2004, the US Government has recently added an individual to the list issued under the US Executive Order 13224. The relevant information can be found on the website
of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury (http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/eotffc/ofac/sanctions/terrorism.html) under the heading of "Name of individual designated on 24 February 2004".

Meanwhile, an updated list specifying terrorists and terrorist associates designated by the United Nations Security Council Committee was separately published under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance and the United Nations Sanctions (Afghanistan) Regulation in the Gazette on 13 February 2004 (G.N. 1000) and 27 February 2004 (G.N. 1324) respectively. Compared with the list attached in my previous letter of 20 January 2004, the names of two individuals and four entities associated with the Al-Qaida organisation have been added under items 10 and 100 of Part C and 18, 19, 22 and 23 of Part D respectively. Information on an individual (Ayadi Shafiq Ben Mohamed BEN MOHAMED) under item 50 of Part C has been updated. The updated list is available in the Government's website at (http://www.info.gov.hk/pd/content/index.htm). A copy of the list in MS Word format is also attached to facilitate update of your electronic database.

You are reminded to check the designated names against your records and report any transactions or relationships you have or have had with the named individuals or entities to the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit and the HKMA. You are also reminded to browse the above websites regularly for the latest information.

Yours faithfully,

William A. Ryback
Deputy Chief Executive

Encl.

Attachment (MS Word, 446KB)