Macau Getting Its Banking Act Together?

After a devastating run on Banco Delta Asia, cited by US authorities for laundering money, for nuclear bad boy, North Korea, was seized by Macau authorities, US investigators are pleased with Macau's response to close loopholes.

"I've been encouraged by the reaction I had in Macau, including a meeting that I had with [Chief Executive Edmund] Ho," US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes Stuart Levey said in Hong Kong.

"They are obviously taking these issues very seriously. We have a very good understanding between us about how important this is, not just to Macau but to the United States, and how we believe this implicates our national security."

Levey last month proposed requiring US banks to block Macau's Banco Delta Asia from conducting transactions in the United States in response to the bank's alleged involvement in North Korean money laundering.

Macao's lax response prior to the Banco Delta Asia debacle was probably was due to several factors, one being that triads control too much business and therefore money laundering is very difficult to control The other is that uber-wealthy tycoons that control the rest of the legitimate businesses there think that are above the law not subject to normal moral codes that bind us to do what is right.

Of course the straight laced Hong Kong financial institutions are well prepared and have effective systems in place to stem illegal money movement activities.