Malaysia overhauls proliferation-financing sanctions directive, binds crypto custodians

Malaysia's Strategic Trade Secretariat has reissued its directive on targeted financial sanctions relating to proliferation financing, replacing the 2018 instrument. It restates freezing and screening duties tied to UN designations, adds explicit proliferation-financing risk-assessment and compliance-programme obligations, and applies across banks, insurers, DNFBPs, capital-market intermediaries and digital-asset service providers. Compliance teams should read it as a refreshed, legally binding baseline.

• The TFS-PF (Amendment 2024) directive was enforced on 7 June 2024 and replaces the directive dated 13 April 2018, issued under section 6 of the Strategic Trade Act 2010.
• Reporting institutions must freeze matched funds, assets and economic resources immediately, and the prior approval of the Strategic Trade Controller is not required to do so.
• Institutions must screen their entire customer database, including dormant accounts, without delay upon a UNSC-published designation.
• Institutions holding frozen or blocked funds must report changes to those funds by 15 January of the next calendar year using the Appendix III template.
• Appendix I extends the obligations to licensed digital currency and digital token custodians and advisers, alongside banks, insurers, DNFBPs and Labuan entities.

Executive summary

The Strategic Trade Secretariat of Malaysia's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry has issued the Directive on Targeted Financial Sanctions Relating to Proliferation Financing (TFS-PF) (Amendment 2024), enforced on 7 June 2024. It replaces the directive dated 13 April 2018…

Machine-verified against the primary source, then read, edited and published by the Regulus editorial desk on 19 Oct 2026.