Bank Negara Malaysia proposes cash transaction limit of MYR 25,000
28 November 2019
On 9 November 2019, Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) announced that the National Coordination Committee to Counter Money Laundering conducted a media briefing on 7 November 2019 on a proposed Cash Transactions Limit (“CTL”) of MYR 25,000.
BNM notes that the objectives of the CTL is to strengthen financial integrity in Malaysia and complement existing integrity measures. Malaysia’s 2017 National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing identified fraud, smuggling, corruption, drug trafficking and organised crimes as high-risk crimes. It also concluded that physical cash remains widely exposed to abuse for these activities. The CTL targets large cash transactions that are of a higher risk of being misused for illicit activities.
BNM explains that a CTL is a limit on the amount that can be paid by physical cash per transaction. Any cash transaction above this limit will have to be paid electronically, by cheque or through financial institutions. Cash transactions with or through licensed banks under the Financial Services Act 2013, licensed Islamic banks under the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013, licensees under the Money Services Business Act 2011 or prescribed institutions under the Development Financial Institutions Act 2002 are exempted from this limit. As regulated entities, financial institutions are already subject to various anti-money laundering/counter terrorism financing requirements.
The cash transaction limit is the latest of a series of measures to further strengthen the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework in Malaysia. It complements existing measures such as the suspicious transaction report (STR) and the cash threshold report (CTR) to better provide authorities with the requisite tools in further strengthening financial integrity in Malaysia.
Reference materials
The following materials are available on the BNM website www.bnm.gov.my or by clicking the titles below: