Circular to Licensed Corporations and Associated Entities
Anti-Money Laundering / Counter-Terrorist Financing
New Solution for e-STR reporting
In order to enhance the capacity in suspicious transaction report (“STR”) processing and shorten the time required for STR reporting entities to receive feedback from Joint Financial Intelligence Unit (“JFIU”) after submitting an STR, the JFIU has recently developed a new solution, “e-STR Submission” (“e-STR”) which will soon replace the existing STR submission channel, “S-box”, tentatively in the 1st quarter of 2019. The e-STR unlike the existing S-box, does not require any installation and/or subsequent maintenance of software but it requires users to have the followings in place when they decided to use the e-STR channel for STR submission: web browser (Chrome and Firefox are recommended), latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader and e-certificate from Hong Kong Post.
The JFIU has in fact rolled out the e-STR in Aug 2018. The JFIU’s purpose of rolling out e-STR is to allow users to make disclosure via an electronic means in a faster and more secure manner. The e-STR also provides additional supporting functions such as retrieval of previous STRs as well as a real-time check of the feedback given by the JFIU.
To expedite the process of submitting STRs, the Securities and Futures Commission encourages the licensed corporations and associated entities to use e-STR in future STR submission as far as possible.
For new user’s registration, please download and complete the registration form from the JFIU’s website: https://www.jfiu.gov.hk/info/doc/eng/SBox%20Registration%20Form.doc and send a completed form to the JFIU by fax (No. 2529 4013), e-mail (jfiu@police.gov.hk) or post (GPO Box 6555 Hong Kong). The JFIU’s officers will contact you upon receipt of the registration form and provide the latest version of proforma for STR reporting (current version: https://www.jfiu.gov.hk/info/doc/STR_Form_v1.3.pdf) and other relevant documents. For existing S-box users, please contact JFIU directly to guide you on transforming to the e-STR system.
Should you require further information, please contact the JFIU’s officers, Mr. Arthur HON at 2860 3559or Ms. FUNG Yin-ching at 2860 3357.
Intermediaries Supervision Department
Intermediaries Division
Securities and Futures CommissionEnd
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