by ASILA JALIL / Pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

THE Finance Ministry (MoF) is in the process of recalibrating the Money Services Business Act 2011 (Act 731) to improve surveillance and prevent illegal remittance activities. 

Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa said the move to enhance the act is to ensure a more efficient enforcement and punitive action against illegal remittance service providers. 

“Enhancement measures are being taken on Act 731 to ensure efficient enforcement to prevent illegal remittance activities. 

“As at end-December 2021, a total of 42 non-bank remittance services have been licensed and providing the service via 1,410 premises nationwide as well as online,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. 

The deputy minister was responding to a supplementary question from Kuala Nerus MP Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali on the measures taken by the government to monitor activities that were not made via authorised remittance service providers. 

He said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had also enhanced surveillance to identify unauthorised remittance service providers and improve its monitoring by using data analytics to identify risks in the industry, as well as to track dubious transactions. 

Yamani Hafez said Act 731 was introduced in 2011 to provide a comprehensive monitoring outline to regulate money services business, including remittance activities. 

“Act 731 is intended to ensure the development of an organised money services business industry, as well as to strengthen the integrity of the industry, so that it is not misused for financial crimes and other illegal activities,” he said. 

Under the Act, industry players must be licensed by BNM and are required to omply with the terms and conditions in conducting money remittance services. 

These include anti-money laundering and anti-financing of terrorism requirements, especially the implementation of due diligence on customers and the maintenance of records on remittance transactions to protect operators from being used as intermediaries for money laundering activities. 

“As a regulatory measure, BNM also set a transaction limit for remittances by an individual to not exceed RM50,000 a day,” he added. 

Separately, the Road Transport Department Malaysia (JPJ) is expected to present the proof-of-concept (PoC) on automated driving licence tests (e-testing) to the Transport Ministry (MoT) by the end of this month. 

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Henry Sum Agong said the technical committee is in the process of evaluating the system, which is developed by four companies. 

“MoT via JPJ has formed a Technical Committee on the e-Testing Project to ensure the implementation of the system complies with the laws that will be enforced soon. For now, JPJ is conducting a PoC on the system,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. 

He was responding to a question from Seremban MP Loke Siew Fook, who asked when the system can be utilised fully and which companies have been selected to operate the system.