International cyclical upswing continuing World economic growth overall has been relatively firm for a couple of years. Last year in particular, growth figures were very high, driven by the marked upswing in the United States and by stable firm growth in large parts of Asia, but also in other emerging market economies. However, during the spring new data releases prompted us and other forecasters to question the strength of the international economic upswing that we had envisaged. Growth statistics from the euro area were weaker than expected and the information from the United States was providing a somewhat mixed picture. Judging by the data that have been released over the summer and at the start of the autumn, most indications are that the slowdown in economic activity that we saw at the beginning of the year was temporary. In the United States, growth continued to be high in the second quarter. In China and the rest of Asia the economic expansion has continued and it is pleasing that the Japanese economy now looks stronger than it has for a long time. On the other hand the performance in the euro area has remained weak, especially in the large economies, but there are nonetheless some indicators there as well pointing to a turnaround. Overall, it appears that GDP growth abroad will continue to be firm this year and that there are prospects that the global cyclical upswing will persist in the coming years, with the United States, China, and the rest of Asia as the main engines.

We have addressed, since then, most of the recommendations set out in the Mutual Evaluation Report (or MER), including the only Non-Compliant rating in terms of SR IX by implementing the cross border cash transportation declaration system since January 2010. Moving forward, considering the rising threat of cross border money laundering and greater emphasis on the effectiveness of the AML/CFT framework, a more strategic approach is undertaken. This is also undertaken as a tool to support the Malaysia’s National Key Result Areas (NKRAs), particularly the first and the second NKRAs, i.e., initiatives to reduce crime and combat corruption. For this, Malaysia has formulated (in 2009) a 3-year National AML/CFT Strategic Plan 2010–2012 as a strategic tool to achieve the desired results of AML/CFT regime. The Strategic Plan includes a set of strategies to achieve specific Desired Outcomes in four key areas; focused implementation; enhancement of the legal framework; improvement of the institutional framework; and capacity building. The Plan covers not only the aspect of preventive measures for financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs), but also the aspects of legal, financial intelligence and law enforcement, as well as domestic and international cooperation. As the Strategic Plan will be officially rolled out soon, Bank Negara Malaysia and the relevant agencies have started to implement the action plan in stages. The ML/TF investigation and prosecution have been intensified. To date, there have been 94 money laundering cases at various stages of prosecution, with more than 3000 charges involving proceeds amounting to RM1.2 billion.