Macau and São Tomé and Príncipe will sign an agreement to exchange information aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, the government of the Chinese special administrative region announced today.
According to an executive order published in the territory’s Official Gazette, the protocol involves the exchange of financial information to combat money laundering, associated predicate offenses, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The memorandum of understanding will be signed with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe.
According to the order, signed by Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai on February 17, Secretary for Security Chan Tsz King may delegate the signing authority to the Director-General of the Unitary Police Service (SPU), Leong Man Cheong.
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Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office (GIF), which oversees efforts to combat money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, operates under the supervision of the SPU. In March 2022, an annual report from the U.S. State Department designated Macau as one of the world’s major money laundering locations.
According to the GIF’s annual report, Macau became in 2019 the only member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to comply with all 40 international standards regarding the prevention of money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In May 2025, Macau also signed an information-sharing agreement with Angola to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Macau’s GIF has signed information exchange agreements with 33 countries and territories, including the Financial Intelligence Unit of Portugal’s Judicial Police in 2008, the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Timor-Leste in 2018, and, in 2019, Brazil’s Council for Financial Activities Control and Cape Verde’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
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The number of suspicious transactions reported by Macau casinos rose by 8.7 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2025, according to official GIF data. The six casino operators in Macau submitted a total of 2,018 reports of transactions suspected of money laundering or terrorism financing between January and June.
At the end of May, the regional government also announced that the Office for Personal Data Protection (DSPDP) would sign cooperation agreements with its counterparts in São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde. Two weeks later, the DSPDP stated that the agreements would enhance the framework of cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in the areas of data security and personal privacy protection.
