of the housing microfinance product as a type of microfinance loan is important as it will enjoy the same incentives as regular microfinance loans. among others, housing microfinance does not require collateral and documentary requirements are much simpler. in other words, this housing microfinance addresses the usual barriers that the poor face in accessing housing finance. there are also built - in incentives for creditor banks. for instance, housing microfinance loans are eligible as alternative compliance to mandatory credit allocation to agrarian reform and other agricultural credit. in addition, housing microfinance loans shall have an assigned riskweight of as low as 0 % ( zero ) when guaranteed by the home guarantee corporation or a 50 % risk - weight if it is not guaranteed. nevertheless, even as we work to promote housing microfinance, risk management features are embedded in the product design for banks follow. this includes the use of cash flow analysis to determine the clients ’ ability to pay and requiring a good track record as a microfinance client. in this connection, the bsp entered into a memorandum of agreement with hudcc last month to set the standards and criteria for the accreditation of banks that can go into housing microfinance. under this moa, banks that wish to participate in this particular housing microfinance should first be accredited by hudcc and the dbp to confirm if they are following the features approved by the bsp. other banks that want to provide housing microfinance under a different scheme should get bsp ’ s prior approval. the ideal market for this product are microfinance clients who have proven their creditworthiness to their banks. with about three million active micro - borrowers, the market for housing microfinance looks promising indeed. i am confident therefore that we will see a significant increase in affordable housing finance that caters to the needs of the poor in a sustainable and non - subsidized manner. let us therefore congratulate those who worked with dedication on this housing microfinance product that will empower microentrepreneurs to improve their quality of life and productivity through affordable housing. on this happy note, i thank all of you for joining today ’ s launching of the housing microfinance. mabuhay ang microfinance housing program for the poor! maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

of euros in tainted money flowing through european banks and their branches across the world. in the us, regulators and prosecutors imposed on financial institutions a total of us $ 1. 5 billion in penalties last year for failing to comply with anti - money laundering requirements. in the uk, more than 13 million complaints have been made against retail banks for the aggressive mis - selling of so - called payment protection insurance. in australia, the hayne royal commission has detailed a litany of wrong - doing in the country ’ s banking industry, including forging loan documents and pushing customers into bad investments to meet bonus targets. i take some comfort that financial institutions in singapore have generally been better behaved and are better regarded. but we have had our problems too : the mis - selling of minibonds and other structured products ; the manipulation by traders of financial benchmarks ; and more recently the laundering of 1mdb - related funds through our banking system. we too can do better. let me briefly suggest three things the industry and regulators can do together to strengthen trust in finance, with a focus on what we are doing here in singapore. first, we must ensure that the financial system is not abused for illicit purposes – be it money laundering, tax evasion, or terrorist financing. in singapore, we had a rude awakening in 2015 when it came to light how 1mdb - related funds were laundered through our banking system. mas and the industry have worked hard since then to strengthen systems and processes to detect and deter illicit fund flows. financial institutions have made significant strides in managing money laundering risks. boards and management are more focused on addressing issues related to illicit finance. they have made the detection of money laundering risk a responsibility of front - line, customer - facing staff, and not just the compliance function. many financial institutions have strengthened their remuneration frameworks to include financial crime risk management as a key performance indicator. a growing number are harnessing the power of data analytics to detect illicit fund flows and flag suspicious transactions. mas too has been enhancing its surveillance and supervision of money laundering risks. we are conducting more anti - money laundering focused onsite inspections. we are applying network analysis to detect across financial institutions high risk clusters of entities and activities. mas, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies have come together to pool their expertise to identify emerging money laundering typologies and possible ways to combat them. the partnership has produced advisories and best practices on how to : detect complex corporate structures involved