Financial Crime World

Singapore Enhances Fight Against Terrorist Financing

Singapore has intensified its efforts to combat terrorist financing (TF) by strengthening surveillance, monitoring, and outreach activities in key sectors. According to a recent report by the country’s sector supervisors, collaborative efforts with financial institutions (FIs), suspicious transaction reporting offices (STROs), and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) have been crucial in identifying and mitigating TF risks.

Monitoring and Surveillance

Sector supervisors regularly conduct monitoring and surveillance activities to identify higher-risk areas or entities. This includes analyzing data from statutory returns submitted by FIs, DNFBPs, NPOs, as well as information from LEAs and open-source intelligence on international and regional terrorism and TF developments.

  • One notable example is the Commissioner of Charities (COC), which has been conducting periodic sectoral reviews since 2019.
  • The COC utilizes the fund-raising for foreign charitable purposes permit regime and statutory returns to identify charities with overseas activities and expenditures in FATF high-risk jurisdictions. Subsequently, the COC engages these charities to ensure they implement appropriate mitigating measures to safeguard themselves against TF risks.

Terrorist Financing Risk Mitigation Toolkit

In February 2023, the COC launched a Terrorist Financing Risk Mitigation Toolkit for Charities, co-developed with selected charities and consultants from the private sector. The toolkit includes a framework and best practices to assist charities in systematically identifying, assessing, and mitigating TF risks.

Targeted Outreach and Industry Cooperation

Supervisors have been conducting targeted outreach and industry cooperation efforts to enhance awareness of TF risks among FIs, DNFBPs, NPOs. For example:

  • The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been engaging with the financial sector to enhance their understanding of TF risks and CFT controls.
  • Supervisors will continue to assess and reinforce private sector awareness of TF risks and CFT controls through outreach, industry guidance, and risk-focused supervision.

Data Analytics and Technology

To bolster surveillance and supervision efforts, sector supervisors have been leveraging data analytics and technological tools to identify and target higher-risk activities among FIs. For instance:

  • MAS has been utilizing transactional information on the public blockchain to proactively identify unlicensed DPT activities for enforcement action and enhance its assessment of ML/TF risks for licensed entities.
  • Sector supervisors aim to strengthen their supervisory activities and effectively mitigate TF risks in Singapore by harnessing data analytics and technological tools.

Looking Ahead

Sector supervisors will continue conducting regular engagement sessions aimed at augmenting the industry’s understanding of sector-specific TF risks and issuing guidance notes on CFT requirements and best practices. By strengthening surveillance, monitoring, and outreach efforts, Singapore is committed to effectively mitigating TF risks in key sectors.