October 22, 2024

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