APG History and Background

In 1993, a regional office called the FATF-Asia Secretariat was set up in the Asia-Pacific region. It was funded by the Australian government and worked with countries in the region to help fight money laundering. This work was supported by international organisations like the Commonwealth Secretariat and the FATF (Financial Action Task Force). 

From 1993 to 1997, a series of meetings called the Asia Money Laundering Symposia were held in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and Thailand. These meetings helped countries in the region work together to stop money laundering.

In 1997, at the last meeting in Thailand, 13 countries agreed to create a permanent group called the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG). They also set up the APG Secretariat office in Sydney, Australia, to manage the group's activities. This office is mainly funded by APG member countries, with extra help from the Australian government.

Since then, the APG has grown a lot. It is now part of a global network of similar groups called FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs). The APG is the largest of these groups, both in number of members and the size of the region it covers.

Many important international organisations also work with the APG, such as the: 
 

  • International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
  • World Bank 
  • United Nations (UN) 
  • INTERPOL 
  • Asian Development Bank 
  • Commonwealth Secretariat 
  • Egmont Group (network of financial intelligence units) 

The global rules for fighting money laundering, terrorism financing, and weapons financing are called the FATF Forty Recommendations. 

To learn more about these rules, see ‘FATF Standards’. 

 

Key Roles

The APG has five primary functions:

  1. Mutual evaluations:   The APG assesses the levels of compliance by its member jurisdictions with the global AML/CFT standards through a mutual evaluation (peer review) programme;
  2. Technical assistance and training:  The APG Secretariat coordinates bi-lateral and donor-agency technical assistance and training in the Asia/Pacific region for its member jurisdictions in order to improve compliance with the global standards;
  3. Typologies research:  Research and analysis into money laundering and terrorist financing methods and trends is a key function of the APG to assist policy and law makers as well as law enforcement agencies and the general public to identify and respond to new and emerging trends, methods, risks and vulnerabilities;
  4. Global engagement:  The APG contributes to international AML/CFT policy development and actively engages with the global network of FSRBs. The APG also participates in a number of FATF working groups and in its plenary meetings; and
  5. Private sector engagement:  Private sector engagement is critical to the APG's overall objectives. The APG actively engages with financial and non-financial institutions, NPOs, training centres and universities in the Asia-Pacific to better inform the general public and specialists about global issues relating to money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

The APG also assists its members to establish national coordination mechanisms to better utilise resources to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

 

Organisational Documents

The APG’s purpose, mission and goals are described in the core strategic and business planning documents of the APG:

  • Terms of Reference;
  • Strategic Plan; and 
  • Annual Business Plan.