Singapore Financial Watchdog Tightens Money Laundering Oversight

City-state is vulnerable to risks from foreign corruption, organized crime and cyber-fraud, says MAS

By: Toh Han Shih

Singapore will take tougher action against money laundering to counter significant risk, new Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong told the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting in the island nation this week.

“As an international financial and business hub, we recognize that we face greater money laundering and terrorism financing risks. But we are determined to do what is needed to respond to these risks and safeguard our reputation as a trusted financial center,” Wong said. “We have made asset recovery a priority in our national anti-money laundering regime.”

On June 26, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the nation’s first ever strategy to recover assets from criminal proceeds and money laundering. Between January 2019 and June 2024, Singapore seized S$6 billion (US$4.4 billion) linked to criminal and money laundering activities – of which S$416 million has been returned to victims, with another S$1 billion forfeited to the state, MAS revealed…