Since 2017, Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) has been developing an amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Act B.E. 2452 (1999) (AML Act) to improve Thailand’s anti-money laundering framework and make it more consistent with the internationally accepted anti-money laundering policies and practices recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The most recent development came on November 4, 2021, when the Thai Cabinet approved, in principle, a draft amendment to the existing AML Act.

The key amendments under this latest draft amendment to the AML Act are summarized below.

These amendments would allow for more robust regulation and investigation processes to better combat increasingly complex money laundering schemes, and would also be an important step for Thailand to satisfy one of the key qualifications for becoming an FATF member.

At the date of this publication, the Draft Amendment Act is currently under an additional public hearing process which will continue until the end of January 2022. We will closely monitor the legislation process of this Draft Amendment Act and will continue to report on any significant developments as they become available.

For more information on anti-money laundering law in Thailand, please contact Mr. Kobkit Thienpreecha at [email protected] or +66 2056 5534, Mr. Niti Muangkote at [email protected] or +66 2056 5542, and Ms. Chutikarn Boonnark at [email protected] or +66 2056 5536.