Our Ref.:
B10/1C
B1/15C

11 July 2014

The Chief Executive
All Authorized Institutions

Dear Sir/Madam,

United Nations Sanctions Ordinance and List of Names for Suspicious Account Reporting

I am writing to inform you of the following developments:

(i) United Nations Sanctions (Central African Republic) Regulation

Further to the gazettal of the United Nations Sanctions (Central African Republic) Regulation (Cap. 537 sub. leg. BH) on 11 April 2014, the Chief Executive has specified under section 32 of the Regulation a list of relevant persons. The list was published in the Government Gazette (G.N. 3922 of 2014) today and is available on the Government’s website (http://www.gld.gov.hk/egazette).

(ii) List of Names for Suspicious Account Reporting

The US Government has recently made a number of changes to the list of individuals and entities designated under US Executive Order 13224. The changes since our last letter on this subject dated 4 July 2014 can be found on the website of the US Treasury in respect of changes made from 25 June 2014 to 10 July 2014. (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/terror.p df)

AIs are reminded that in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 of the Guideline on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing, they should maintain a database of individuals and entities designated under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance, United Nations Sanctions Ordinance and US Executive Order 13224 for client and transaction screening purposes.

The HKMA expects all new designations to be screened against an AI’s client list as soon as practicable after the issuing of a circular by the HKMA.

Any transactions or relations, past or present, with any designated individual or entity should be reported to the Joint Financial Intelligence Unit and the HKMA.

Yours faithfully,

Henry Cheng
Executive Director (Banking Supervision)