On September 18, 2019 at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Le Minh Hung had a meeting with Mr. David Becker - Head of the Mutual Evaluation Team of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG).
On behalf of the SBV Board of Management, Governor Le Minh Hung welcomed Mr. David Becker and other members of the APG Assessment Team to work with Vietnam's ministries and agencies in preparation for an official evaluation of Vietnam's mechanisms for the prevention of money laundering in early November 2019.
At the meeting, SBV Governor Le Minh Hung affirmed that the prevention of money laundering and combating terrorist financing are among the top priorities of the Government of Vietnam (GoV), especially when Vietnam's economy has become more and more open, the import-export scale has reached over 200% of the GDP, Vietnamese commercial banks have come into cooperation with many international financial institutions,... Over the past time, the GoV has closely instructed the Ministries and agencies to closely coordinate with the SBV, particularly for the mutual evaluation.
SBV Governor Le Minh Hung speaks at the meeting
To prepare for the mutual evaluation, in 2017 and 2018 with the support of the World Bank, Vietnam conducted a national risk assessment on money laundering and terrorist financing. The Prime Minister has recently issued Vietnam's Action Plan for mutual evaluation on anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing, which directs and assigns specific tasks to the relevant Ministries and agencies.
Mr. David Becker - APG Mutual Evaluation Team Leader speaks at the meeting
The Government as well as the Ministries and agencies in Vietnam have been working hard to timely complete the reports to be submitted to the Assessment Team, and have prepared thoroughly for the working visits of the Assessment Team in Vietnam. However, the SBV Governor also frankly shared that in order to implement the FATF's recommendations, as well as to assess the effectiveness of the implementation, it also poses challenges for many countries, especially for developing countries like Vietnam.
For example, Vietnam is a country where English is not a common language, thus the process of preparing for the mutual evaluation also encountered many difficulties in delivering information to the Assessment Team through the technical compliance reports, performance reports, etc.
Therefore, the SBV Governor believed that the working sessions of the Assessment Team in Vietnam would be an opportunity for the Team to understand more fully about the political, economic, social systems, and the mechanisms of prevention of money laundering and combating terrorist financing in Vietnam. At the same time, the Team can give specific recommendations in support of Vietnam in general and the SBV in particular, which need addressing in the coming time; hence, continuing to improve and operate more effectively the mechanisms of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing in Vietnam.
Expressing his thanks for the SBV Governor's hospitality extended to the Team, Mr. David Becker mentioned his positive impression with the support from the agencies and partners in Vietnam, including the SBV. With the determination and thorough preparation of the Government and the SBV, Mr. David Becker believed that this review would bring about positive results.
VA