The seminar was attended by the Cook Islands' Commissioner for Offshore Financial Services, Ms Mathilda Uhrle, and no doubt the figures mentioned were kept in mind for the ensuing meeting that took place in Kuala Lumpur this week to discuss collective strategies to combat money-laundering operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Government officials from the 22 country members of the APG attended the three-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur, including the Cook Islands - represented again by Ms Uhrle - as one of the APG's newest members.

During her opening address in Kuala Lumpur, the governor of Malaysia's Bank Negara, Dr Zeti Akhtar, said that banking institutions will be required to introduce mechanisms to support monitoring and reporting procedures to help seek out money laundering activities. Regulations will apply to all banking services including those on the Internet and banks will be called upon to create ways of ensuring that the online customer verification process is as efficient as that for face-to-face customers - which is a current policy for Bank Negara.

She argued that all banks would be requested to comply because 'virtually any financial service provider could be used as a vehicle' for laundering money.

Ms Zeti also mentioned the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority (Lofsa), which had asked the APG to conduct an assessment of aspects of its international offshore financial centre. Labuan is currently working on measures to update its infrastructure to ensure it meets strict international supervisory requirements. Ms Zeti said that Lofsa intends to continue to promote the offshore financial centre as a well regulated regime. She claimed that Labuan admits 'only reputable and full-fledged players.'