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

cpi inflation. for example, while wti oil prices in us $ have increased by more than 70 % from a year ago, domestic electricity tariffs and petrol prices rose by around 30 % each. similarly, while the imf global food and beverage index has soared by 43 % from a year ago, domestic food prices picked up by a more moderate 9 %. the effects of our policy tightening will continue to restrain cost and price pressures going forward. 8. however, we cannot totally insulate ourselves from the increases in global food and oil prices. hence, we must ensure that inflation expectations remain firmly anchored and that external price changes do not trigger second round effects. for monetary policy, our objective continues to be price stability over the medium - term. at the same time, other policy responses, as well as changes in household and business behaviour have been complementary toward this end. 9. mas ’ current monetary policy stance announced on 10 april 2008 remains appropriate given our assessment of current external economic developments. the next monetary policy statement will be released in october as scheduled. financial stability 10. the international financial system and the global economy are still facing significant challenges and downside risks. so far, prompt action by financial authorities in the us and europe has helped avert a wider crisis. but financial markets remain uncertain and volatile. 11. singapore banks have limited exposure to us mortgage related securities, and they remain well capitalised. over the past year, mas has intensified our monitoring of financial markets and our supervision of financial institutions. we have also conducted stress tests of singapore banks and the domestic operations of the large foreign banks here, and the results reported by the banks showed them to be resilient. nevertheless, there is no room for complacency. the current crisis provides important lessons on the areas we have to work on to enhance the resilience of the singapore financial system. mas is also participating in several international working groups that are reviewing ways to strengthen supervisory practices and standards. strengthening resilience : basel ii, liquidity management and standing facilities 12. as new international regulatory standards and practices are finalised, mas will consider strengthening our standards and market infrastructure where appropriate while taking care to avoid a disproportionate response. let me highlight three areas, where we had started reviewing our regulatory framework before the crisis and have proceeded to implement these new measures to further strengthen the resilience of our financial system. 13. first, an area found to be wanting elsewhere in the credit crisis was