Dewan Rakyat approves three bills under Ministry of Finance

Two bills, namely the Labuan Companies (Amendment) Bill 2022 to amend the Labuan Companies Act 1990, and the Labuan Islamic Financial Services and Securities (Amendment) Bill 2022 to amend the Labuan Islamic Financial Services and Securities Act 2010, were debated and passed.

Meanwhile, the Labuan Financial Services and Securities (Amendment) Bill 2022 to amend the Financial Services Act 2010 was passed without discussion.

Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa said the amendments were made to ensure the Acts under Labuan were more effective, up-to-date, and could meet the ever-changing needs of the financial sector.

"Based on the risk assessment made on Malaysia including Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (IBFC) under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2014, FATF has proposed that Act 441 be amended to include several provisions to meet international standards related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism.

"Specifically, the amendments to this Act are related to several action plans in the National Strategic Action Plan (NSAP) that need to be implemented in the 2015 to 2020 period," he said when winding up the tabling of the bills.

Accordingly, Malaysia and Labuan IBFC will be evaluated together by the FATF in 2024 and 2025.

Yamani Hafez explained that the evaluation will look at the implementation of the recommendations outlined under the NSAP by the National Coordination Committee to counter the money laundering roadmap 2021 and 2023.

"In this regard, the proposed amendments must be given priority so that Malaysia's rating on compliance with international standards regarding counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering is not affected," he said.

Among the amendments to Act 441 included banning the issuance of share warrants of any company in Labuan, he added.