• Published on 31 July 2023
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MAS to strengthen defence against money laundering risks in single family offices

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today launched a public consultation on a revised framework to strengthen surveillance and defence against money laundering (ML) risks in Singapore’s single family office sector.

The revised framework will introduce a harmonised class exemption for single-family offices (SFO) with specific requirements to ensure that all SFO are subject to anti-money laundering controls.

Currently, as SFO do not manage third-party assets, they can either rely on existing class exemptions from licensing requirements under the Securities and Futures Act or apply to MAS for case-by-case exemptions. To strengthen surveillance and defence against ML risks in the SFO sector, MAS proposes to harmonise the exemption criteria for all SFOs operating in Singapore.

Specifically, to qualify for the class exemption, SFO must:

• Be incorporated in Singapore;
• Notify MAS and confirm that it is in compliance with the qualifying criteria under the class exemption when they commence operations in Singapore;
• Report annually on total assets managed after the end of each calendar year; and
• Maintain a business relationship with a MAS-regulated financial institution that will perform anti-money laundering checks on these SFO.

These measures will allow MAS to better monitor SFO operating in Singapore and address any ML risks in the sector.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker