What is Anti Money Laundering in SIngapore

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• The open economy and well-structured tax
  environment of Singapore contribute to its
  reputation as a business center. Nevertheless,
  the open economy can pose a risk of emerging
  financial crimes like money laundering or
  terrorist financing. For this reason, adhering to
  anti-money laundering regulations in Singapore is
  mandatory. 
• Since 2016, Singapore has strengthened AML
  regulations and measures by understanding the
  evolving landscape of financial crime. The nation
  has earned recognition from international bodies
  such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
  for its commitment and dedication to combating
  emerging money laundering risks. 
• However, to stay compliant with Singapores AML
  requirements, businesses within the country must
  adhere to varied AML regulations. Does that sound
  confusing? We will guide you through the
  definition of AML, the AML compliance process,
  accurate regulations, and other insights to help
  your business combat financial risks.

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What is Anti-Money Laundering (AML) in Singapore?

• Money laundering refers to a comprehensive
  procedure, policies, and specific regulations
  mandated for Singaporean businesses to mitigate
  ML activities. 
• AML programs require financial institutions and
  other organizations to identify, monitor, and
  report suspicious transactions at the right time.
  It is also important for businesses to implement
  specific measures and policies to prevent money
  laundering in Singapore. 
• Additionally, AML requirements include
  implementing a risk-based approach that includes
  procedures such as customer due diligence,
  real-time transaction monitoring, suspicious
  activity reports, and AML risk assessments.
  Organizations in Singapore can protect overall
  financial infrastructure effectively by adhering
  to diverse AML regulations.

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Who is Affected by Money Laundering in Singapore?

• Anti money laundering in Singapore regulations
  are mandated for financial institutions and other
  entities or individuals to foster secured
  financial practices in the country.
• Casinos
• Brokers
• Exchange Companies
• Real-estate Agents
• Financial Advisers
• Precise Metals Dealers
• Payment Service Advisers
• And More

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• Additionally, Money laundering in Singapore
  mandates AML compliance for a few transactions
  like
• E-money issuance
• Money Exchange
• Virtual Assets
• Money Transfers
• Account Issuance

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Who Are the AML Regulators in Singapore?

• For total compliance, various AML regulators in
  Singapore supervise various industries. The main
  AML regulator for financial institutions is the
  Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
  Additionally, the Council for Estate Agents
  oversees real estate agencies in Singapore for
  potential money laundering, and the Accounting
  and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) focuses
  on regulating accountants and corporate service
  providers.
• Additionally, the Casino Industry is the focus of
  the Casino Regulatory Authority. Recall that each
  regulator has unique guidelines or anti-money
  laundering laws that apply to a certain sector.
  For your benefit, let's examine various
  regulators in more detail.
• The Money Authority of Singapore (MAS) oversees
  several AML initiatives in its capacity as both a
  central bank and a financial regulatory body. It
  places a high priority on enforcing rules and
  regulations, notifying financial institutions,
  and assisting companies with the implementation
  of anti-money laundering (AML) procedures such
  transaction monitoring and reporting and due
  diligence. In addition, if the institutions don't
  follow AML regulations, MAS performs strict
  inspections and revokes their licenses.

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• The Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the
  Singapore Police Force is primarily responsible
  for looking into and prosecuting cases involving
  money laundering. Money laundering operations in
  Singapore are identified and stopped by CAD in
  cooperation with MAS and other law enforcement
  organizations. Particular units concentrate on
  gathering pertinent information, filing lawsuits,
  and bringing charges against people or
  organizations engaged in money laundering.
• Involvement of Government Singapores government
  imposes extensive laws like Corruption, Drug
  Trafficking, and other Serious Crimes Act (CDSA)
  and Terrorisim Suppression of Financing Act
  (TSOFA) criminalizing money laundering and
  terrorist financing attempts. Additionally,
  legislation is continuously reviewed and amended
  to mitigate evolving threats.
• International Cooperation Singapore focuses on
  bringing AML laws into line with international
  norms as a member of the Financial Action Task
  Force (FATF). In addition, in order to comply
  with Singapore's anti-money laundering laws, the
  Singaporean government participates in global
  programs aimed at reducing cross-border money
  laundering and terrorist financing through mutual
  analysis.
• Public-Private Partnership The Singaporean
  government works with various private sectors,
  law enforcement agencies, and regulatory
  entities. This strategy facilitates the exchange
  of important information, the development of
  expertise, and the demonstration of cooperative
  efforts to reduce financial crime. Additionally,
  this endeavor promotes compliance in the
  financial industry and streamlines the
  implementation of AML measures.

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What is the Legislation of Money Laundering in
Singapore?

• Singapore has a robust anti money laundering act
  or legislation to mitigate financial crimes.
  However, the primary law involves Corruption,
  Drug Trafficking, and Other Serious Crimes Act
  (CDSA) which prioritizes on outlining on ML
  prevention measures, detailed reporting process,
  and penalties for AML non-compliance.
• 1. Corruption, Drug Trafficking Other Serious
  Act (CDSA)
• The foundation of Singapore's anti-money
  laundering (AML) structure is the CDSA, which
  makes money laundering illegal and provides a
  legal framework for the investigation,
  prosecution, and seizure of assets pertaining to
  serious crimes. This approach also gives
  regulatory and law enforcement agencies the
  ability to accurately respond to allegations of
  money laundering and support assets.
• 2. Terrorism Suppression of Financing Act (TSOFA)
• Targeting the financing of terrorism by giving
  money to terrorist organizations or individuals
  is the main goal of TSOFA. With particular
  anti-money laundering checks and laws, it fosters
  international cooperation from terrorist
  financing networks by requiring financial
  institutions to do rigorous due diligence in
  order to prevent financing and enabling
  authorities to take assets.

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• 3. Precious Stones and Precious Metals Act
  (PSMTFA)
• By defining particular AML procedures for
  dealers, PSMTFA concentrates on the dangers of
  money laundering associated with precious stones
  or metals. It additionally upholds enhanced due
  diligence and licensing.
• 4. Securities and Futures Act (SFA)
• SFA gives regulating AML requirements for firms
  with licenses in the securities, futures, and
  financial advising sectors top priority. In
  addition, it requires transaction tracking,
  reporting suspicious transactions, and customer
  due diligence. It also ensures vigilance in
  recognizing and avoiding financial fraud,
  including money laundering.
• 5. Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act (CMCA)
• Cybercrime and computer-related offenses,
  including hacking and cyberfraud, are the focus
  of the CMCA. Furthermore, it enhances Singapore's
  capacity to lessen cyber-related financial crimes
  and safeguard financial transactions.
• 6. Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA)
• While it regulates personal data projections,
  PDPA is not solely focused on AML rules.
  Singapore mandates that organizations secure
  their personal data, which acts as an excellent
  anti-money laundering check and indirectly aids
  in the discovery of financial fraud by reducing
  identity theft and fraudulent actions.

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How to Stay Compliant?

• Organizations in Singapore are required by the
  Corruption, Drug, and other Serious Crimes Act
  (CDSA) to adhere to a series of guidelines in
  order to be compliant with AML legislation. These
  guidelines include
• Establish strong internal policies, processes,
  and risk-based monitoring to ensure compliance
  with AML regulations. This means that while
  developing these policies, companies need to
  consider the scale and complexity of their
  business.
• Regardless of the industry your company
  operates in, it's critical to keep your workforce
  informed on the AML policies. Think about holding
  special training sessions for both new hires and
  current employees, and make sure they are
  informed about AML policies and procedures at
  least once a year.
• Organize specialized training sessions to
  assist your employees in recognizing and
  mitigating suspicious activity. Make your team
  aware of the potential repercussions for your
  organization should you end up breaking any
  legislation or failing to keep an eye on
  transactions or money laundering attempts.
• To identify ML/TF threats in Singapore for
  companies exposed to a range of potential crimes,
  conduct risk assessments.
• Establish a compliance officer or AML
  specialists and outline their roles and
  responsibilities for AML compliance procedures
  that are tailored to your company's needs and
  sector. and notify particular Singaporean
  regulatory agencies of any questionable
  transactions.

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• In addition, the Designated Non-financial
  Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) outlined in
  AML/CFT regulations involves
• Real Estate (Agents Companies)
• Dealers in Precious Stones Metals
• Corporate Service Providers
• Public Accountants
• Lawyer
• Pawnbrokers
• Casinos
• To help you stay compliant with money laundering
  in Singapore, we are listing below a few
  significant procedures to run your business
  risk-fre

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• 1. Optimize Track Value Transfers
• A value transfer includes a transaction conducted
  on behalf of a value transfer originator via a
  financial institution to make one or more
  available digital tokens.
• Before conducting a value transfer, the ordering
  institution must
• Identify value transfer originators and
  implement adequate measures to verify value
  transfer originators identity.
• Record crucial details of value transfer like
  date of value transfer, value and type of digital
  tokens transferred and value date.
• Requirements Value Transfer Below or Equal to
  1500
• Name of value transfer originator
• Value transfers account number
• Name of value transfer beneficiary
• Value transfers beneficiary account number
• Requirement Value Transfer Exceeding 1500
• Value transfer originators residential address
• Registered business address

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• 2. Extensive Customer Due Diligence (CDD)
• One of the crucial phases for AML compliance in
  Singapore is client due diligence, which
  guarantees that you onboard real customers after
  a careful evaluation. Additionally, this process
  include gathering and confirming customer
  documentation, acting as a thorough background
  investigation.
• As an initial step, entities must focus on
  collecting and verifying customers information
  such as
• Customers full name
• Identification number birth certificate
  number, identity card number more
• Nationality
• Date of birth
• Residential address
• In addition, if your customer is an organization,
  then it is crucial for businesses to verify and
  follow a few vital steps like
• Verify entities business profile structure type,
  and more aspects
• Check organizations geographical aspects
  specific region or country, the company operates
  from or where your customer is actively
  associated.
• Furthermore check other factors like, type of
  services/products they provide, size, type or
  complexities of their transactions mode of
  payment, and check for their preferred delivery
  or distribution channels

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• 3. Conduct Sanction PEP Screening
• To prevent ML attempts, MAS mandates businesses
  in Singapore to conduct rigorous assessments,
  which includes conducting Politically Exposed
  Person (PEP), sanction screening, and adverse
  media checks to avoid onboarding customers who
  are blacklisted by local and global authorities.
• Identify and access source of wealth and
  source of income or funds of your customers to
  ensure they are not involved into illegal
  activities
• Track transactions, varied activities and
  customers behavior thoroughly and report it
  immediately to Sinagporean authorities if you
  detect any unusual activities in transactions
  without informing customers.
• 4. Suspicious Transaction Reporting
• Have you noticed any odd behavior in the course
  of monitoring transactions? Anyone noticed any
  questionable information while doing a PEP
  screening? Once you have sufficient client
  information and suspect information from your
  recordkeeping, you must report it right away to
  the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer
  (STRO).
• Additionally, it is imperative that companies
  understand the various AML reporting requirements
  that apply to the industry they serve. For
  example, traders of precious stones and metals in
  Singapore are required to record every
  transaction above S20,000. On the other hand,
  transactions over S10,000 must be reported by
  casino businesses within 15 working days.
• Speak with our AML specialists to obtain software
  and customized AML solutions that will help you
  comply with a variety of rules.

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What are the Penalties for Money Laundering
Activities in Singapore?

• 1. Hefty Fine
• Businesses that fail to comply with AML, can be
  fined for around 1 million by the Monetary
  Authority of Singapore (MAS). For instance, in
  2016 MAS had fined multiple banks in SIngapore of
  around 29.1 million for poor transaction
  monitoring, customer due diligence, and even AML
  reporting.
• 2. Regulatory Penalty
• Apart from hefty fines, having gaps into your AML
  policies, or procedures can cause regulatory
  fines. This means, MAS can impose license
  revocation, put business limitations, and more.
  For example, in 2017 a bank was fined around 6.4
  million and warned by MAS due to lack of
  assessing ML risks regarding clients accounts,
  non-compliance of identification of anomaly
  client behavior with dedicated accounts.
• 3. Criminal Prosecution
• Failing to comply with AML regulations can lead
  to receiving a sentence for an ML offense.
  Individuals or entities involved in
  non-compliance of AML practices can face
  imprisonment of 10 years and fine of 1 million
  and more. In 2020, 2 lawyers were charged for ML
  offense for moving millions of dollars from
  clients accounts to third-party accounts.

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AML Penalty in Singapore

• Penalty Types
• 1. Monetary Fine
• 1 million or more
• 2. Regulatory Fine
• License revocation, Business limitations
• 3. Criminal Prosecution
• Imprisonment for 10 years, or fine 1 million or
  twice
• Other Penalties
• Official Warnings
• Prohibition Orders
• Management removal
• Reprimands
• Asset confiscation
• Business loss
• Money Laundering Activities
• Buying goods with illicit funds
• Structuring cash transactions
• Moving fund to third party account
• Hiding money with shell companies

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Final Thoughts

• Since 2016, Singapore's anti-money laundering
  legal system has undergone substantial change. To
  show its dedication to reducing financial crime
  even in an increasingly digitally complex
  environment, the MAS has updated AML regulations,
  reporting guidelines, and other protocols. The
  significance of adhering to these laws and
  effectively thwarting any possible money
  laundering attempts is underscored by the
  Corruption, Drug Trafficking Other Serious Act
  (CDSA), Terrorism Suppression of Financing Act
  (TSOFA), Precious Stones and Precious Metals Act
  (PSMTFA), and other acts. Trust our unique AML
  software and services to assure automated
  procedures that comply with AML requirements,
  simplifying this process. Our AML specialists
  will offer you comprehensive guidance in creating
  efficient AML policies and procedures, as well as
  training for your personnel to facilitate
  transaction tracking, sanction screening, the CDD
  process, and AML reporting.