Taiwan’s promotion to the regular follow-up list maintained by the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering was confirmed after the country’s mutual evaluation report was adopted at the APG’s annual meeting Aug. 18-23 in Canberra, Australia.
 
The upgrade will become official after the report is published on the group’s website in early October following a post-plenary quality and consistency review.
 
According to the Cabinet’s Anti-Money Laundering Office, the promotion will see Taiwan in the top group alongside the Cook Islands, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Macau among the APG’s 41 member jurisdictions, reflecting efforts by the country’s public and private sectors to improve related standards and procedures.

In a statement released Aug. 25, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government remains committed to taking part in APG activities. It will continue to share its successful experiences with like-minded partners to assist the global fight against money laundering, the ministry added.

Taiwan joined the APG as a founding member in 1998 on the strength of Asia-Pacific milestones like promulgation of the Money Laundering Control Act two years before. It received a positive review during the first round of mutual evaluations in 2001, but saw its status relegated in subsequent years before being removed from the transitional follow-up list in July 2017. (SFC-E)
 
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