Macau and Mozambique will sign an agreement to exchange information to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, the government of the Chinese semi-autonomous region announced yesterday.
According to an order published in the region’s Official Gazette, the protocol involves the exchange of “financial information” to combat money laundering, “associated predicate offences”, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The memorandum of understanding will be signed with Mozambique’s Financial Information Office (GIFiM).
According to the order, signed by the Chief Executive, Sam Hou Fai, on 12 October, the Secretary for Security, Chan Tsz King, may delegate this task to the commander-general of the Unitary Police Service (SPU), Leong Man Cheong.
The Macau Financial Intelligence Office (GIF), responsible for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, is a subordinate unit of the SPU.
In March 2022, an annual report by the US Department of State identified Macau as one of the world’s major money-laundering centres.
According to the GIF’s annual report, Macau became, in 2019, the only member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to comply with “all 40 international standards” on preventing money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In May 2025, Macau also signed an agreement with Angola to exchange information to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Last August, the regional government also announced that it would sign a similar protocol with the Financial Intelligence Unit of São Tomé and Príncipe.
Macau’s GIF has signed information-exchange agreements with 33 countries and territories, including Portugal’s Financial Intelligence Unit of the Judicial Police in 2008, the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Timor-Leste in 2018, and, in 2019, Brazil’s Council for Financial Activities Control and Cape Verde’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
The number of suspicious transactions reported at casinos in Macau, the world’s gambling capital, rose by 7.9% in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 2025, according to official GIF data.
Macau’s six casino operators submitted a total of 2,968 reports of suspicious transactions involving money laundering or terrorist financing between January and September.
Source: Lusa