Money laundering rules in Hong Kong are about to get stricter

A Hong Kong regulator is about to make the region’s money laundering rules even stricter to prevent illicit funds from flowing out of mainland China.

The Joint Financial Intelligence Unit, Hong Kong’s money laundering watchdog, has proposed changes that would introduce checks on accounts and transactions from politically connected people from inside mainland China, the Financial Times reported.

Currently, the rules only apply to politically connected people outside of mainland China.

The move is part of the Chinese government’s stated goal of weed out corruption among both higher and lower ranking officials in the country.

The regulations would also be in line with recommendations made by the Financial Action Task Force in 2019.