Singapore’s fight against dirty money shines as UK defence and security think tank spotlights SG as the global leader in fighting financial crime

SINGAPORE: Singapore has presided over the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over the past two years, leading the “global fight against dirty money,” as a United Kingdom-based defence and security think tank pointed out in a recent commentary.

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) pointed out the weight of the city-state’s responsibility in fighting financial crime on a global scale at a time when it also had to do so within its borders.

“From our experience, Singapore is home to some of the smartest and most advanced thinkers in the anti-financial crime community – just look at its proposed updated anti-money laundering legislation.

For our research, we come to Singapore to learn from local policymakers, law enforcement officers, and supervisors who are invariably at the cutting edge of best practices, and we export these innovations to other countries that are struggling with similar challenges.

It therefore made complete sense for Singapore to be entrusted with the leadership of this unique global body,” wrote the Centre for Finance and Security’s Tom Keatinge in a piece published by RUSI on Aug 19 (Monday).

Nevertheless, as an international financial centre (IFC), Singapore has also had its share of money laundering cases, including its largest-ever case a year ago involving S$3 billion in assets.

Read related: Money laundering in Singapore up by almost 80% in 2023—Moody’s

On Aug 15, in the most recent development of the case, bankers from Citibank and Julius Baer were slapped with criminal charges for reportedly facilitating the movement of illicit funds by several people born in China.

Mr Keatinge, while praising the city-state’s asset recovery strategy, underlined the importance of another component, which is to anticipate what financial criminals may do next.

In addition to asset recovery, the city-state would also do well to study the emerging trends that could threaten the integrity of the financial system and its users in Singapore and implement a deterrence strategy.

“For many criminal and corrupt actors in the region, Singapore is the perfect getaway car: a large financial centre through which bad actors can access the global financial system to move their dirty money wherever they like in the world – or hide it via shady property deals under the authorities’ noses in Singapore itself,” he wrote, identifying the emergence of Chinese underground banking networks as one specific challenge. /TISG

Read also: Last foreigner in $3B money laundering scandal deported; S$187 million in assets seized