Macau: suspicious transactions reports up 7.9% in Q1

The gaming industry filed 362 suspicious transactions reports in Macau in the first three months of 2021, up 1.5 per cent year-on-year.

Macau.- The Macau Financial Intelligence Office has received 654 Suspicious Transaction Report (STRs) in the first three months of 2021, an increase of 7.92 per cent compared with the same period in 2020.

According to the data, 55.3 per cent of the STRs were related to gaming operators, who accounted for 362 reports, up 1.5 per cent from 356 cases in the same period in 2020.

Financial and insurance institutions accounted for 196 reports (30 per cent of all reports), up from 191 in the same period last year.

Reports about other institutions rose from 69 in 2020 to 96 in 2021. These accounted for 14.7 per cent of all STRs in Q1.

In 2020, the gaming industry filed 1,215 STRs in Macau, accounting for 54.6 per cent of reports.

US to work closely with Macau on anti-money laundering controls

The US consulate for Macau and Hong Kong said in its US Integrated Country Report for Macau and Hong Kong that the US should work together with Macau’s security agencies to fight against money laundering.

In March, the US Department of State’s 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) recognised that the Macau government had made great strides in its anti-money laundering controls.

There are currently three US gaming concessionaires in Macau: Sands China, MGM China and Wynn Macau.