HONG KONG'S SMALLER banks are susceptible to being used by terrorist organisations channelling money to neighbouring Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, according to a top security expert.
Stephen Vickers, managing director of PricewaterhouseCoopers Investigations Asia, said terrorist outfits, unlike money launderers, slipped through tough scrutiny of banks as the amount they moved was small.
'You don't necessarily have to be vastly financed to be a successful terrorist. The numbers [they moved] may not be significant on the surface in financial terms,' he said.
Mr Vickers, who spent 18 years in the then Royal Hong Kong Police Force and commanded the force's Criminal Intelligence Bureau, said terrorist organisations usually had small units.
'[They are] small kinds of service units. Three or four guys living in a small flat, its not big bucks,' he said.
Mr Vickers said he would not be surprised if some terrorist groups had accounts in Hong Kong. He said the same problem existed in other major financial centres such as London, New York and Switzerland.
