The authorities have found several shops illegally engaging in financial businesses, such as remitting foreign currencies to other countries for customers, the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM) said yesterday.
An AMCM statement yesterday said that the Macau Monetary Authority “recently” received reports that a number of shops, which mainly sell goods to non-resident workers (NRWs), were suspected of providing members of the public with illegal currency exchange and remittance services.
The Macau Monetary Authority, with the assistance of the Judiciary Police (PJ), “recently” investigated six shops, located in the peninsula’s Avenida de Horta e Costa neighbourhood and central district as well as in Taipa, over suspected illegal financial activities, the statement said.
The findings of the investigations, according to the statement, indicate that some of the six shops illegally remitted abroad foreign currencies converted from patacas received from customers here, through the use of overseas e-wallets or bank accounts.
The statement underlined that according to Law 13/2023, the main law regulating Macau’s financial system, only authorised financial institutions are permitted to engage in financial businesses in Macau. Any individual or entity engaging in financial activities without authorisation, according to the law, faces a fine of between 500,000 and five million patacas.
The statement noted that if the unauthorised financial activities have seriously disrupted the stability of Macau’s financial system or the normal operation of its financial market, according to the law, the respective offenders face a fine of up to 10 million patacas.
In the statement, the Macau Monetary Authority pledged to continue combating illegal financial activities to ensure the stability and order of Macau’s financial system, urging members of the public to always engage in financial activities through authorised financial institutions, so as to avoid falling victims to scams and incurring unnecessary losses.
This undated handout photo released by the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM) yesterday shows its inspectors investigating one of the six shops.
