The Force's Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB), in collaboration with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) and a number of banks, launched a 12-month pilot project, namely the Fraud and Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (FMLIT), in a bid to enhance the prevention, detection and disruption of serious financial crime and money laundering threats.

Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Lau Yip-shing presided over the inauguration ceremony of the FMLIT at the Police Senior Officers' Mess on May 26. Other honourable guests attending the ceremony included Executive Director (Enforcement and Anti-Money Laundering) of HKMA Ms Meena Datwani, Acting Chairperson of HKAB Mrs Kung Yeung Yun-chi, Deputy Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ms Mable Chan and senior executives of some local retail banks.

FMLIT is a collaborative platform that is based around a public-private partnership, bringing together the collective expertise and resources of the banking sector and the government in the fight against financial crime. Through regular meetings of FMLIT's Strategic and Operations Groups, senior representatives will formulate and adjust its directions while professional fraud and money laundering investigators of the members will work side by side in tackling financial crime threats. Assessment reports and alerts will be disseminated to the sector from time to time with a view to mitigating the threats.

FMLIT reflects the determination of the government and the banking sector to work together in the global fight against serious financial crime and money laundering and to safeguard Hong Kong's reputation as one of the world's leading financial centres.