KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 -- Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is in the midst of exploring the introduction of a cash transaction limit (CTL) to complement the existing financial integrity measures, its governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said today.

“While new to Malaysia, many other countries such as France, Italy and India have already implemented it. This measure will further mitigate the abuse of cash by addressing the ease of conducting high-value cash transactions,” she said. 

Even with the rise of electronic payments, criminals still prefer cash because it is widely accepted, anonymous in nature and untraceable, she said at the Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing Conference  launched by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad here today. 

Nor Shamsiah said the National Coordination Committee to Counter Money Laundering (NCC) will be consulting the public on this proposal later this month.

“The NCC wants to make an informed decision. As such, we hope that all of you could get the word out and encourage the public to provide feedback on the proposed measure,” she said.

In January, BNM lowered the daily cash threshold report (CTR) from RM50,000 to RM25,000.

Up to September, over five million CTR reports were received, representing about RM483 billion in cash transactions.

“It is still too early to draw any concrete conclusions, but what we have observed across the industry is the total value of cash transactions reported has increased marginally, while the number of CTR reports received have nearly doubled,” she said.

Nor Shamsiah said the significant increase in CTRs received since January provides BNM important data points that enable more rigorous monitoring of peculiarities in cash transactions and identification of money laundering/ terrorist financing risk on newly identified entities that have not been captured previously.

These additional insights also lead to a better quality of disclosures to relevant law enforcement agencies especially in relation to fraud, tax evasion and corruption crimes, she said.

-- BERNAMA