Leon Perera on Financial Services and Markets (Amendment) Bill
A new digital platform for financial institutions (FIs) to share information on suspicious customers will fill a gap in Singapore’s current regulatory ecosystem to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing, said MP Leon Perera in Parliament on Tuesday (May 9). However, he noted that while starting with six major commercial banks might make sense, they also have the least to lose in turning down customers and are already likely to have the most resources to look into suspicious transactions. He suggested adding a select group of smaller offshore private banks to the start-up group as soon as practicable. To minimise confusion among participating FIs, he called for expeditious guidelines on exactly what would constitute grounds for submission of information to COSMIC. And with information-sharing only permitted if stipulated red flags cross certain thresholds, he wanted to know how often these thresholds will be reviewed. Mr Perera said with highly confidential financial information being shared on the system, security will be paramount. He asked if the Monetary Authority of Singapore will assign a special team to this, or if it will be outsourced to another Government agency or private company.
A new digital platform for financial institutions (FIs) to share information on suspicious customers will fill a gap in Singapore’s current regulatory ecosystem to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing, said MP Leon Perera in Parliament on Tuesday (May 9). However, he noted that while starting with six major commercial banks might make sense, they also have the least to lose in turning down customers and are already likely to have the most resources to look into suspicious transactions. He suggested adding a select group of smaller offshore private banks to the start-up group as soon as practicable. To minimise confusion among participating FIs, he called for expeditious guidelines on exactly what would constitute grounds for submission of information to COSMIC. And with information-sharing only permitted if stipulated red flags cross certain thresholds, he wanted to know how often these thresholds will be reviewed. Mr Perera said with highly confidential financial information being shared on the system, security will be paramount. He asked if the Monetary Authority of Singapore will assign a special team to this, or if it will be outsourced to another Government agency or private company.
Popular Shows
