Chinese mainland officials who stash ill-gotten wealth in Hong Kong will face fresh scrutiny over their financial affairs under a planned tightening of money laundering regulations in the territory.

The Hong Kong government has proposed changes to the requirements on financial institutions and advisers that would introduce checks on the bank accounts and transactions of politically connected people from mainland China.

Businesses in Hong Kong currently only need to apply stricter money laundering checks on politically exposed persons (PEPs) “outside of the People’s Republic of China”. But Hong Kong’s Joint Financial Intelligence Unit, the money laundering watchdog, has proposed amending the rules to apply to everyone outside of the territory.