In August 2024, Singapore’s Parliament enacted the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters Act 2024, a major development that reinforces the city-state’s global reputation as a clean, trusted financial centre.
According to Workfusion, the law came amid heightened scrutiny following the uncovering of a multi-billion-dollar money-laundering operation in 2023. However, experts note that the Act had been in preparation for some time, as regulators sought to tighten defences against illicit financial flows.
Singapore’s unique status as both a financial and physical goods trading hub makes it one of Southeast Asia’s most significant economic centres. Its robust regulatory regime and deep liquidity have long made it a preferred destination for global financial institutions. Yet these same strengths attract illicit actors who exploit its financial system to move or legitimise criminal proceeds.
Singapore’s open trading environment also exposes it to environmental and trade-related crimes, such as illegal mining and deforestation, that feed into financial channels.
Prior to 2024, several high-profile scandals revealed vulnerabilities within Singapore’s financial system. Transnational criminal networks, such as those linked to cyberfraud operations in Cambodia, channelled illicit gains through Singaporean banks. Corrupt businessmen from Indonesia reportedly used Singapore’s markets to conceal profits from illegal logging and mining. The city-state also found itself entangled in the 1MDB corruption scandal between 2013 and 2019, which led to the embezzlement of nearly US$7bn from Malaysia’s state development fund. Even European cases like Germany’s Wirecard collapse in 2020 involved Singapore-based entities and led to penalties for local banks due to weak anti-money laundering (AML) controls.
In response to these challenges, the Singapore Government introduced sweeping reforms in 2024, building on a series of initiatives including the Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering Information & Cases (COSMIC) platform launched in April, and the National Anti-Money Laundering Strategy published in October. The new Act aims to enhance the ability of law enforcement agencies to prosecute money-laundering offences, improve asset seizure processes, and align the national AML framework with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards.
One key amendment revises the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992. Prosecutors no longer need to directly link laundered funds to a specific criminal act; they only need to prove that the accused knew or reasonably believed the money came from criminal activity. This change makes it easier to pursue money mules and cases involving funds that pass through multiple jurisdictions.
The law also updates the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, allowing authorities to sell seized assets linked to absconded suspects within six months of an investigation’s start. This helps reduce maintenance costs and preserve the value of confiscated property. Meanwhile, amendments to the Casino Control Act 2006 require stricter customer due diligence (CDD) checks for cash transactions of S$4,000 or more, aligning Singapore’s gambling sector with FATF standards.
Furthermore, updates to trade and tax legislation—including the Free Trade Zones Act 1966 and the Goods and Services Tax Act 1993—allow data sharing between government agencies and Singapore’s Financial Intelligence Unit, the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office (STRO). This expanded access to trade and tax data strengthens STRO’s ability to detect money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing.
For banks and other financial institutions, the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters Act 2024 signals the government’s determination to maintain Singapore’s integrity as a global finance hub. The law serves as a reminder that institutions must adopt robust due diligence measures, ensure transparency in transactions, and verify both client identities and the origins of funds. Compliance officers, company directors, and legal professionals all play a crucial role in safeguarding the country’s financial system from abuse.
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