Thailand hunting down ‘gray money’ behind baht’s odd strength

[BANGKOK] The Thai government will set up a special team to track suspicious fund movements linked to online gambling, scam accounts, and other “gray money” transactions.

The so-called “data bureau” will synchronise data across government and financial institutions to detect unusual transfers and trace the ultimate beneficiaries of suspicious funds, Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas told reporters on Wednesday (Nov 5) after meeting with relevant agencies to tighten oversight. 

“We will not fix this on a case-by-case basis, but will update the standards for detecting suspicious flows,” Ekniti said. “We hope everything should be done by December.”

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has put Ekniti in charge of forming a team with the central bank and other agencies under a so-called “Connect the Dots” task force to investigate irregular money flows that may be fueling the baht’s unusual strength despite Thailand’s weak economy.

Anutin on Wednesday also vowed an all-out crackdown on financial crimes, saying his government has “signed a blank cheque” to back efforts to root out scammers, human-trafficking networks and drug rings.

“Gray money,” according to Ekniti, typically flows through cryptocurrency platforms, cash networks, currency exchanges and gold markets. Once in the country, such funds are often laundered through high-value assets such as gold, real estate, diamonds and luxury cars.

SEE ALSO

The government also plans to upgrade its monitoring system for suspicious financial flows and align existing regulations with global standards set by the Financial Action Task Force, Ekniti said.

Thai authorities have been ramping up efforts to combat questionable money flows. The Bank of Thailand on Tuesday announced that commercial banks must strengthen monitoring and due diligence procedures to detect and report any suspicious transfers. BLOOMBERG