“However, we are determined to do whatever it takes to respond to these threats and protect Singapore’s reputation as a trusted financial centre,” Wong, who can also be the state’s finance minister, said at a Financial Action Task Force event.
Singapore currently holds the two-year presidency of the worldwide anti-money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog, which runs until June 30.
The Southeast Asian country on Wednesday released a report on its national asset recovery strategy, a part of efforts to strengthen its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing framework.
“Asset recovery is one of the key priorities of our AML system,” the inside, finance and central bank ministries said in a 32-page report.
“Our goal is to deprive criminals of illicit profits and thereby remove the financial incentive to launder money in Singapore,” the report reads.
“We also strive to provide assistance to victims of crime by helping them recover property and assets lost as a result of criminal activity.”
We are working to deprive criminals of their illicit profits… by removing the financial incentive to launder their money in Singapore.
The report found that between January 2019 and June 2024, Singapore seized S$6 billion ($4.4 billion) linked to criminal activity and money laundering.
Of this amount, A$416 million has been returned to victims and A$1 billion has been confiscated to the state, the report found, while the overwhelming majority of the rest is linked to ongoing investigations or legal proceedings.
Last week, Singapore highlighted in a risk assessment report that its banking sector, including wealth management, poses the best money laundering risk in the town.
An international financial centre with a friendly tax system and perceived political stability, Singapore has long been a haven for ultra-rich foreigners.
Since 2021, there was an inflow of latest wealth there, as the town became one among the primary Asian cities to significantly ease restrictions related to the pandemic.
The variety of family offices and firms offering comprehensive portfolio management services to high-net-worth individuals within the city-state rose to about 1,400 last yr from 1,100 a yr earlier and about 700 at the top of 2021, in response to government statistics.
