Hong Kong will amend its laws to comply with the latest international standards to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, said Rosanna Ure Lui Hang-sai, commissioner for narcotics of the HKSAR Security Bureau, at a Tuesday press conference.

The revised legislation will cover six more categories of non-financial businesses and professions, serving as a "gatekeeper" against money laundering.

The six categories are casinos, real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, trust and company service providers, lawyers and accountants.

These categories, as well as the financial institutions, will be required to comply with the basic obligations of customer due diligence, record keeping and suspicious transaction reporting, Lui said.

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an intergovernmental body formed in 1989, sets international standards and develops and promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

It adopted and issued the latest version of Forty Recommendations in June 2003 and Special Recommendation IX (SR IX) in October 2004, which have been recognized by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as the international standards for assessing governments' efforts in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The FATF launched the third round of Mutual Evaluation of members in early 2005 to ensure that all members are in compliance with the latest international standards, Lui said.

Hong Kong has been a member of FATF since 1990 and is actively involved in its activities to curb money laundering and financing of terrorism.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2005)