Governor Than Than Swe of the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) remarked on September 19 at a meeting highlighting on activities to improve Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures and further plans of the banks that Myanmar has been making a concerted efforts to be removed from Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s money laundering watchlist.
The FATF places Myanmar under Increased Monitoring status/watchlist since February 2020. CBM stated the country is trying to be off the FATF’s watchlist and the CBM conducted bank risk assessment, on-site inspection and off-site monitoring as per the Action Plan. Additionally, the CBM is monitoring whether the strategic deficiencies identified by Action Plan can be resolved along with the related banks within a reasonable timeframe.
Furthermore, awareness of AML/CFT to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing are being conducted for non-bank financial institutions and mobile money operators. High-level officials of the local banks, executive members and administration officials realize the importance of AML/CFT. The governor of the CBM directed the officials attending the meeting to lay down policies and regulations and give power and support to the bank’s compliance team.
Moreover, banks have to be committed to confidentiality. The CBM has been finalising the manual of the regulation for international money transfer companies and it will be released soon. Those money transfer companies will be inspected in line with that manual, she highlighted.
