Overview
- In its latest mutual evaluation, the FATF kept Singapore on regular follow‑up and credited strong laws and coordination, with upgrades in areas like asset recovery and supervision, but it also flagged low penalties and slower formal cross‑border cooperation.
- Fraud drives Singapore’s risk, and more than 11,000 money‑laundering probes in five years mostly targeted low‑level money mules, which the watchdog said dulls efforts against complex foreign networks and larger criminal assets.
- Singapore’s counter‑proliferation effectiveness was cut to moderate after FATF found very low sanctions awareness at foreign flag‑state representation offices in Singapore, including some based in embassies that make oversight harder.
- The 2023 S$3 billion case showed rapid seizures and close agency teamwork yet exposed weak corporate gatekeeping by lawyers, corporate service providers, property agents and banks, leading to fines, disciplinary actions and the loss of tax perks for linked family offices.
- FATF urged Singapore to expand the COSMIC bank data‑sharing platform and tighten verification of beneficial owners and trusts, and authorities said they will study the steps and apply them in a risk‑proportionate way.