Following the completion of a two-week mutual evaluation by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) in Taiwan, the mutual evaluation committee on Friday announced its preliminary results. While the report has yet to be finalized, the committee said this morning that Taiwan had made clear progress over the last two years, thanks to high-level government support and the cooperation of the public and private sectors.
Head of the evaluation team David Shannon praised Taiwan for its ability to provide immediate coordinated judicial assistance, and observed that the nation has excellent financial reporting and counter terrorism-financing mechanisms. He also said that the government's allocation of sufficient resources to fighting money laundering among non-financial industries has led to considerable progress in promoting overall anti-money laundering and counter terrorism-financing work.
Minister without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng thanked the nine members of the evaluation committee for coming to Taiwan from their respective home countries to share their experience with the most advanced anti-money laundering practices, as well as their diligence in conducting 90 separate meetings over the more than 10 days of the review. Minister Lo further thanked the many people in the government and private sectors who were able to foster a heightened sense of solidarity as they devoted efforts to preparing for the evaluation.
Government agencies and private enterprises will continue to make advances in line with the committee's recommendations as Taiwan waits for the APG to release a fuller report in late January of 2019. Taiwan will also strengthen related rules, legislation and practices still requiring improvements. Such efforts should earn it an improved score when the evaluation committee returns for a four-day follow-up onsite review on March 18, 2019. The final report must be passed at the APG's annual meeting in July 2019 to become official.
The Executive Yuan will begin work immediately to ensure that both the public and private sectors move quickly to address the deficiencies raised by the committee. Today's preliminary report represents a victory for all who participated in the evaluation, and announces to the world that Taiwan is dedicated to securing financial transparency. The country will devote increased efforts to preventing money laundering and terrorist financing in order to better connect with the international community.