Anti-Money Laundering

Singapore supports global efforts to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing. Maintaining a clean and trusted financial centre is important given our role as an international business hub. Find out more about MAS’ regime to combat financial crime.

Overview

Combating money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing are priorities for MAS. We require our financial institutions to have sufficiently robust controls to detect and deter such illicit activities. We also partner the industry to bolster their defences, by engaging them on emerging risks, evolving criminal typologies and industry best practices. MAS is firmly committed to safeguarding Singapore as a clean and trusted financial centre.

Sustained effort and unstinting vigilance will be needed on the part of industry players to manage the risk of illicit finance and keep our financial centre clean.

– Ravi Menon, Managing Director, MAS
MAS Annual Report 2016/2017

Our Role in International Standard Setting

Singapore is an active member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard setting and oversight body for AML/CFT. As co-chair of its Policy Development Group, Singapore collaborates closely with fellow AML/CFT policy makers and supervisors to develop international standards. We are also a founding member of the Asia / Pacific Group on Money Laundering.

Regulations and Guidance

The controls that MAS requires of financial institutions include the need to identify and know their customers (including beneficial owners), conduct regular account reviews, and monitor and report any suspicious transaction.

The requirements and expectations on financial institutions are set out in MAS’ AML/CFT Notices, Guidelines, and other Guidance issued by MAS.

Financial institutions should also refer to:

• AML/CFT announcements and media releases for information on high-risk jurisdictions.
• AML/CFT Guidance Papers issued by international bodies, including the FATF.

Financial institutions must also comply with the various Regulations made pursuant to section 192, read with sections 15(1)(b) and 219(d), of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 to discharge or facilitate the discharge of Singapore’s obligations by virtue of decisions of the Security Council of the United Nations. They must also comply with obligations to combat terrorism financing such as those found in the Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act 2002.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Singapore Government has imposed sanctions and restrictions against Russia. All financial institutions must comply with the financial measures set out in the Notices.

More information can be found here.

Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 , a financial institution that fails or refuses to comply with any requirements in the applicable AML/CFT Notice is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1 million for each offence.  In the case of a continuing offence, such a financial institution will be subject to a further fine of $100,000 for every day or part of the day during which the offence continues after conviction.

Resources

AML/CFT Industry Partnership (ACIP)Access ACIP best practice papers for guarding against trade-based money laundering and the misuse of company structures for illicit purposes.

Download Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) forms and file them through the STRO Online Notices And Reporting (SONAR) platform. It collects machine readable structured data for better analytics.

Learn more about Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Information & Cases (COSMIC), the digital platform for financial institutions (FIs) to share information to detect and defer criminal activities.