Another session in parliament was held in Singapore discussing the matter of Single Family Offices or SFOs.
While
the sector is clearly buoyant and continues to grow, last year’s money
laundering scandal has triggered concerns expressed in the city parliament.
Although
‘all SFOs applying for MAS tax incentives are required to open accounts with
financial institutions (FIs) in Singapore and are subject to the FIs’ due
diligence procedures and MAS screening the tax incentive applicants for adverse
reports and money laundering or terrorism financing risks, quite a few questions
remain:
-
What’s
the reason these SFOs want to come here in the first place? Do we understand
the underlying reasons for setting up in Singapore? Only then proper government
policy and measures can be implemented.
-
Related
to that is the question if we want this in Singapore. Are these really the organisations
that create jobs and add value to the country?
-
All
SFOs should have an account relation with an MAS regulated FI – but do they
indeed?
-
Given
last year’s money laundering scandal in which it proved that controls in major
banks were faulty, is the financial sector stringent enough to deal with these high-risk
organisations?
In
summary: do the benefits of having all these SFOs outweigh the costs and are
the measures to mitigate all financial crime risks sufficient and worth it?
Either
way, SFOs will need to get their AML/CFT framework in order and will need to
ensure the financial crime awareness and knowledge of Singapore regulations of
all staff are thoroughly assessed and continuously updated to effectively
mitigate risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing.
This
approach is essential given Singapore's stringent AML laws and the evolving
nature of financial crimes, which require ongoing training and compliance
efforts across all levels of staff within financial institutions.
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Read the original article from FinewsAsia here
