ong chong tee : combating financial crime – international and national efforts keynote address by mr ong chong tee, deputy managing director ( financial supervision ) of the monetary authority of singapore, at the abs financial crime seminar, singapore, 2 july 2014. * * * 1 distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me here this morning. the annual abs financial crime seminar has become a key event on singapore ’ s antimoney laundering and counter - terrorism financing ( aml / cft ) calendar. it is a good opportunity for our banking industry at large to take stock of the current challenges and trends, as well as to discuss priorities. as the diverse programme of this conference shows, money laundering and terrorist financing ( ml / tf ) is a complex global issue, and i am heartened to see the number of experienced professionals and experts gathered here today to share perspectives and insights. the international environment 2 financial crime is a serious global threat. according to some un estimates, the amount of money laundered globally is between 2 % and 5 % of global gdp annually, or to put this in us dollar terms, between us $ 800 billion and us $ 2 trillion a year. the challenge before us – as is often noted – is that the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism is never done. rapid advancements in information, communication and payment technologies have led to great conveniences around speed, ease, and often anonymity ; so these developments also open up more potential loopholes and avenues for perpetrators to escape detection ; hence the momentum on aml / cft efforts must be maintained. 3 indeed, the international community has not sat still. as many of you know, the financial action task force ( fatf ) was set up in 1989, and has been the key policy - making body that meets regularly to identify emerging risks and typology, provide guidance, as well as to strengthen or refine international standards. in 2012, a revised set of international standards to combat ml / tf risks was issued, and the fatf has since commenced a new round of mutual evaluations to ensure that countries put in place the necessary controls. fundamental to this is the importance for countries to understand their ml / tf risks, and adopt appropriate measures to mitigate those risks effectively. a national effort 4 singapore has and will continue to play our part in this important global effort. as an international financial centre and business hub, our openness exposes us to cross -

industry, setting out key observations and supervisory expectations, so as to promote broader sharing of best practices. i understand that the report has been well - received by the industry. i should add that while the report relates to private banking activities, many sound practices are relevant for other customer - facing business lines. i therefore strongly encourage all financial institutions to leverage on the report to benchmark their controls, and to put in place enhancements where relevant. 22 i had mentioned about deepening manpower capabilities. in this regard, competency building is imperative, to uplift aml / cft standards amongst industry professionals. i commend the abs for its suite of training options on aml / cft, ranging from thematic workshops, classroom trainings, to seminars such as this. i understand that attendance at this seminar and related aml / cft courses has been growing each year, and i hope this positive trend continues. attention to aml / cft has certainly been increasing, with certification providers like the international compliance training academy and the association of certified anti - money laundering specialists ( acams ) seeing more sign - ups. acams had also set up a singapore chapter late last year. in all, the resources and training avenues are there, so it is for all of you to tap on them. an effective culture of aml / cft cannot be created by hiring a few experts from elsewhere. instead, it is about raising awareness throughout the firm ; so do focus on “ growing your own timber ” alongside importing relevant expertise. strengthening the framework further 23 before i close this morning, i would like to announce two further measures that mas will undertake to strengthen our aml / cft regime : a. first, mas has been progressively increasing the level of disclosure on supervisory actions taken for breaches of aml / cft requirements. at this seminar last year, we disclosed aggregated figures of sanctions imposed for the preceding three years. while a gross picture can give an indication of how well the industry has implemented aml / cft measures, they do not sufficiently highlight any common or severe issue. building on this, mas will be looking to publish details of more severe penalties imposed on financial institutions for such breaches. in addition to deterring errant behaviour, this move will reinforce our preventive supervisory approach, and draw financial institutions ’ attention to more severe instances of deficiencies and breaches. financial institutions can then pre - emptively strengthen their own controls to prevent similar failures.