Malaysia's Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin, who opened the meeting, said the group's activities have helped prevent dirty money from slipping undetected into the financial systems of regional nations.
Money laundering is undoubtedly sinister as it lives off ill-gotten wealth.
Figures on the amount of money laundered are impossible to determine, but reports have estimated about 300 billion dollars to 500 billion dollars in illegal monetary proceeds are laundered worldwide every year. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the head of Malaysia's central bank, Bank Negara, said financial systems have become more vulnerable to money laundering because of rapid globalization and a borderless world. She said Malaysia has already taken steps to crack down on money laundering such as bypassing the Anti-Money Laundering Bill early this year and setting up a national committee on the issue, which is supervised by the central bank.