Singapore has maintained its position among the world’s strongest jurisdictions in combating illicit finance. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said the city-state had a “robust and effective” framework to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and nuclear proliferation financing.
The development comes as regulators push for tighter oversight of risks associated with virtual assets and foreign legal structures.
The Paris-based watchdog’s latest peer review report placed Singapore in the “Regular Track” category, a category reserved for jurisdictions that perform well in peer reviews.
This marks an improvement from the country’s previous assessment in 2016, despite stricter global standards that have since been introduced.
FATF said Singapore has demonstrated strong governance structures, risk-based supervision and effective coordination between government agencies, financial institutions and international counterparts.
Singapore’s law enforcement capabilities, including its use of financial intelligence, asset recovery efforts and cross-border cooperation, were also touched upon.
The report comes as Singapore continues to tighten its scrutiny of financial crime following several high-profile money laundering cases that have tarnished the city-state’s reputation as a global hub of wealth and digital finance.
In recent years, authorities have stepped up supervision of banks, family offices and virtual asset service providers amid growing concerns about illicit cross-border flows.
While the FATF noted that banks and virtual asset service providers generally demonstrated good awareness of proliferation-related financing risks and compliance obligations, it identified areas that required further improvement.
These include increasing risk awareness in sectors not traditionally covered by FATF obligations, such as representations of foreign flag states, and strengthening measures regarding foreign legal entities and regulations.
Singapore said it would review the recommendations and continue to improve its anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regime “in a manner commensurate with the risk”.
The government also said it plans to expand its Cooperative Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Information and Case Sharing platform, known as COSMIC, to include additional major banks and broader information sharing on key cases, as authorities seek closer public-private collaboration against increasingly sophisticated financial crimes.
