The 25th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Anti-Money Laundering Group was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 24 to 28, 2022. The meeting was attended with financing from Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability Project, and led by Deputy Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs B. Solongoo, and participation from Chairman of the Financial Regulation Committee D. Bayarsaikhan, Head of the Financial Information Unit of Bank of Mongolia B. Batbaatar and representatives of the General Intelligence Department, Anti-Corruption Agency, General Police Department, and the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office.

In October 2020, Mongolia was included in the Financial Sanctions Organization's (FATF) list of countries with deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and terrorist financing strategies, or "Grey List", and is still committed to implementing FATF's recommendations. In this context, according to FATF Technical Implementation Recommendation 15, countries are responsible for creating a legal framework for the virtual capital industry and meeting international standard requirements.

The FATF has added to its recommendations regarding the identification of virtual asset service providers, the implementation of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing requirements, and the implementation of a risk-based approach, and has notified countries to comply. In this regard, the Financial Regulatory Commission, the Bank of Mongolia, the Financial Information Unit, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other related organizations have worked together to create an appropriate legal environment for virtual asset service providers, to create a system that supports innovation and reduces risk, and the "Law on Virtual Asset Service Providers” was approved by the Parliament on December 17, 2021.

As a result, the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing has been assessed at the national level in the field of virtual assets, regulations have been developed and approved, cooperation has been expanded, and measures have been taken to warn the public. In order to improve the evaluation of FATF Recommendation 15 /New technologies/, Mongolia's progress report was submitted to the Asia-Pacific group with clarifications and worked actively to ensure the implementation of technical recommendations.

During this conference, the Asia-Pacific Anti-Money Laundering Group discussed and approved Mongolia's Progress Report among member countries. At the meeting, FATF Recommendation 15, which was rated as "semi-implemented", was successfully upgraded to "mostly implemented". With the confirmation of the evaluation of Recommendation 15, Mongolia has progressed with the assessment that 39 Recommendations out of 40 FATF Recommendations have been fully and mostly implemented in terms of technical recommendations.

Delegates participated in a presentation by sharing Mongolia's experience with member countries of the Asia-Pacific Anti-Money Laundering Group on the introduction of FATF requirements and international standards in the field of proper regulation of virtual asset service providers, combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, and prevention of financial crimes.

Ian McCartney, Vice Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Anti-Money Laundering Group, welcomed the Mongolian team and agreed to exchange ideas and work together to expand cooperation in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, a meeting was held with international donor organizations to discuss the implementation of technical assistance projects in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

During the meeting, the Financial Information Unit of the Bank of Mongolia established a "Memorandum of Understanding" within the framework of information exchange and cooperation with the Financial Information Units of Cambodia and Timor Leste.