Louis Ng on Financial Services and Markets (Amendment) Bill

The Bill will enable Singapore to take the lead in detecting and preventing financial crime and strengthen its position as a major financial hub, said MP Louis Ng. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (May 9), he highlighted the need to target the illegal wildlife trade and urged the Government to include the scope of the red flags identified to those associated with wildlife crime. He said the illegal wildlife trade is a “perfect candidate” for the powers under the Bill. Turning to the issue of privacy regulations, he noted that the legislation does a “good job” balancing the goal of reducing economic crime with the concerns of privacy. He wanted to know how the Monetary Authority of Singapore will ensure that banks hold themselves up to the standards expected. He also wanted to know if there are plans to provide other Government agencies access to the data of COSMIC. He said the data could be mined to gain valuable insights about suspicious activity but this must be done carefully to ensure confidentiality. Mr Ng also wanted to know what safeguards will be put in place if there are plans to share the data from COSMIC with other entities.