Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering

The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (also known as the APG or APGML) is the FATF-style regional body for the Asia/Pacific region. It is an autonomous international organisation founded in 1997 in Bangkok, Thailand. The APG consists of 38 member jurisdictions and a number of international and regional observers.

The APG has two Co-Chairs - one permanent and one two-year term rotating Co-Chair. The permanent Co-Chair is Australia (held by Commissioner Mick Keelty, the Commissioner of Australian Federal Police) and the current rotating Co-Chair is Singapore (held by Mr Ong Hian Sun, the Director of the Commercial Affairs Department). The APG Secretariat is located Sydney, Australia. The Executive Secretary is Dr Gordon Hook.

Jurisdictions that join the APG commit to implement the international standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, in particular the [http://www.fatf-gafi.org/document/28/0,3343,en_32250379_32236930_33658140_1_1_1_1,00.html Forty Recommendations on Money Laundering] and the [http://www.fatf-gafi.org/document/9/0,3343,en_32250379_32236920_34032073_1_1_1_1,00.html Nine Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing] of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). These standards are referred to as the international standards for Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).

The APG’s Role

The APG has a number of roles as stated in its strategic plan. Its core roles include:
* assessing APG member jurisdictions’ compliance with international AML/CFT standards through a program of mutual evaluations;
* supporting implementation of the international AML/CFT standards, including coordinating multi-lateral and bi-lateral technical assistance and training with donor countries and agencies;
* conducting research and analysis into money laundering and terrorist financing trends and methods; and
* participating in, and co-operating with, the international AML/CFT network and contributing to the global policy development of the standards through associate membership in the FATF.

With respect to point one, the APG conducts mutual evaluations of its members to determine whether they comply, or to what extent they comply, with their obligations to implement the global anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing standards. Some of these reports are conducted jointly with other AML/CFT bodies such as the FATF, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the [http://www.ogbs.net/ Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors] . The final reports are considered in the APG plenary at the Annual Meeting and upon completion of that examination are published on the APG website in accordance with internal policy.

On point two, the APG has a robust technical assistance and training function in the region and is recognised as the world leader in technical assistance and training coordination relating to AML/CFT issues. Each year a number of missions are conducted in the region to assess technical and training needs of various jurisdictions after which the Secretariat coordinates the delivery of assistance from multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors.

Point three relates to typologies research. The APG has a Typologies Working Group which examines trends in money laundering and terrorist financing in the Asia Pacific region. The reports of this Working Group are published on the APG website and provide sanitised case studies from APG members which in turn assists policy makers and law enforcement agencies in understanding how to target resources to prevent these crimes.

As to point four, the APG is also an Associate Member of the Financial Action Task Force which permits individual APG members to attend FATF meetings as APG delegates and intervene on policy and operational issues. The APG also conducts joint meetings with the FATF and other FATF-style bodies around the world.

APG members

Membership is open to any jurisdiction in the Asia/Pacific region which is committed to implementing and enforcing the global AML/CFT standards established by the FATF. As at July 2008, 38 Asia Pacific jurisdictions were members of the APG:

*Afghanistan
*Australia
*Bangladesh
*Brunei Darussalam
*Cambodia
*Canada
*Chinese Taipei
*Cook Islands
*Fiji Islands
*Hong Kong, China
*India
*Indonesia
*Japan
*Korea, Republic of
*Lao PDR
*Macau, China
*Malaysia
*Maldives
*Marshall Islands
*Mongolia
*Myanmar
*Nauru
*Nepal
*New Zealand
*Niue
*Pakistan
*Palau
*Philippines
*Samoa
*Singapore
*Solomon Islands
*Sri Lanka
*Thailand
*Timor Leste
*Tonga
*United States of America
*Vanuatu
*Vietnam

Of these jurisdictions, 7 are also members of the FATF: Australia; Canada; Hong Kong, China; Japan; New Zealand, Singapore; and the United States of America.

APG Observers

APG observers include potential members of the APG and jurisdictions and organisations that cooperate with the APG to support regional efforts to implement the international standards for AML/CFT.

The following jurisdictions are observers in the APG:

*France
*Kiribati
*Papua New Guinea
*United Kingdom

The following international and regional organisations are observers in the APG:

*Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
*Asian Development Bank (ADB)
*ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia/Pacific
*Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
*Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF)
*Commonwealth Secretariat
* [http://www.egmontgroup.org/ Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units of the World (Egmont)]
*Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF)
*Grupo de Acción Financiera de Sudamérica (GAFISUD)
* [http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/aml.htm International Monetary Fund (IMF)]
*Interpol
*Middle East & North Africa FATF (MENAFATF)
*Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures (MONEYVAL)
* [http://www.ocosec.org/ Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO)]
* Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS)
* [http://www.forumsec.org/ Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS)]
* [http://www.pftac.org/ Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC) ]
* [http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/money-laundering/index.html United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)]
* World Bank
* [http://www.wcoomd.org/home.htm World Customs Organisation (WCO)]

FATF-style regional bodies

The APG is one of a number of FATF-style regional bodies which have equivalent roles to the APG. FATF-style regional bodies include:

[http://www.cfatf.org/ CFATF] (the Caribbean)

[http://www.eurasiangroup.org/ EAG] (Central Asia)

[http://www.esaamlg.org/ ESAAMLG] (Eastern and Southern Africa)

[http://www.gafisud.org/ GAFISUD] (South America)

[http://www.giaba-westafrica.org/ GIABA] (West Africa)

[http://www.menafatf.org/ MENAFATF] (Middle East and North Africa)

[http://www.coe.int/moneyval Moneyval] (Europe)

External links

* [http://www.apgml.org/ Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering]
* [http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/0,2987,en_32250379_32235720_1_1_1_1_1,00.html Financial Action Task Force]