Singapore Central Bank MAS Reply on Pandora Papers Leak

Caproasia.com | The leading source of data, research, information & resource for financial professionals, investment managers, professional investors, family offices & advisors to institutions, billionaires, UHNWs & HNWs. Covering capital markets, investments and private wealth in Asia. How do you invest $3 million to $300 million? How do you manage $20 million to $3 billion of assets? Caproasia - Learn more

Caproasia Access | Events | Summits | Register Events | The Financial Centre
The 2025 Investment Day | 2025 Family Office Summits | Family Office Circle

2025 Summits in Hong Kong & Singapore
Investment / Alternatives Summit - March / Oct / Nov
Investment Day - March / July / Sept / Oct / Nov
Private Wealth Summit - April / Oct / Nov
Family Office Summit - April / Oct / Nov
View Events | Register

This site is for accredited investors, professional investors, investment managers and financial professionals only. You should have assets around $3 million to $300 million or managing $20 million to $30 billion.

---

Singapore Central Bank MAS Reply on Pandora Papers Leak

5th November 2021 | Singapore

Singapore Central Bank Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has replied to parliamentary questions on the Pandora Papers Leak, with MAS responding that “the Pandora Papers has not raised significant concerns over the money laundering and counter terrorism financing (“AML/CFT”) and has acknowledged legitimate reasons to set up offshore structures, such as for investment and estate management. However, offshore structures often lack transparency and are thus vulnerable to abuse for illicit activities.”  The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) had released the Pandora Papers, detailing secret offshore holdings of 35 country leaders, 130 billionaires and famous people including Great Britain Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Jordan King Abdullah II, Sir Elton John, ex-model Claudia Schiffer, singer Shakira and Bernie Ecclestone (Formula 1).  In Asia, famous names include Masayoshi Son (Softbank), Anil Ambani (Reliance), Lee Jae Yong (Samsung), Hong Kong former Chief Executives CY Leung and Tung Chee-Hwa, Lim Kok Tay (Genting), Tony Fernandes (Air Asia) and Jho Low (Alleged Mastermind of Malaysia 1MDB Corruption Scandal).  Famous football names include Luis Suarez, Angel Di Maria, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Mancini.

“ Singapore Central Bank MAS Reply on Pandora Papers Leak “

- Article continues below -

Quick Links, Ads & Announcements
Caproasia Access | Events | Summits | Register Events | The Financial Centre
The 2025 Investment Day | 2025 Family Office Summits | Family Office Circle

Sign Up
Basic Member: $5 Monthly | $60 Yearly
Newsletter Daily 2 pm (Promo): $20 Monthly | $180 Yearly (FP: $680)

The 2025 Investment Day
Hong Kong | Singapore
March / July / Sept / Oct / Nov
Private Equity, Hedge Funds, Boutique Funds, Private Markets & more. Join 20+ CIOs & Senior investment team, with > 60% single family offices with $300 million AUM. Taking place in Hong Kong and in Singapore. Every March, July, Sept, Oct & Nov.
Visit | Register here

The 2025 Family Office Summit
10th April & 16th Oct Hong Kong Ritz Carlton | 17th April & 6th Nov Singapore Amara Sanctuary Resort
Join 80 single family offices & family office professionals in Hong Kong & Singapore
Links: 2025 Family Office Summit | Register here

2025 Investment / Alternatives Summit
March / Oct / Nov in Hong Kong & Singapore
Join leading asset managers, hedge funds, boutique funds, private equity, venture capital & real estate firms in Hong Kong, Singapore & Asia-Pacific at the Investment / Alternatives Summit. Join as delegate, speaker, presenter, partner & sponsor.
Visit | Register here

2025 Private Wealth Summit
April / Oct / Nov in Hong Kong & Singapore
Join CEOs, CIOs, Head of Private Banking, Head of Family Offices & Product Heads at The Private Wealth Summit.  Join as delegate, speaker, presenter, partner & sponsor.
Visit | Register here

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Replies on Pandora Papers:

• As a global financial centre, Singapore intermediates a large volume of fund flows for investment or commercial purposes, and also provides services in financial asset management. While the vast majority of these activities are carried out by law-abiding individuals and companies, we are constantly on guard against the risk of illicit financing activities.
• The Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) continually monitors and analyses information from a wide range of sources as part of its surveillance of money laundering and terrorism financing risks. This includes suspicious transactions reports filed by our financial institutions (“FIs”), information from intelligence sources, including those abroad, and publicly available information such as from independent investigations and media reports. MAS therefore takes seriously the recent disclosures in the Pandora Papers.
• The ICIJ has reported that 336 prominent individuals from around the world had established offshore structures to hold assets (Information drawn from ICIJ’s website as at 30 October 2021), assisted by 14 service providers operating in at least 38 (Information drawn from ICIJ’s website as at 30 October 2021). Two of the 14 service providers are foreign-incorporated trust companies with subsidiaries in Singapore that are licensed and regulated by MAS. Some ICIJ media reports also mentioned that many of these individuals had foreign bank accounts linked to these structures, in various financial centres including Singapore.
• Based on MAS’ assessment and information available thus far, the Pandora Papers have not raised significant concerns over the money laundering and counter terrorism financing (“AML/CFT”) controls of our FIs. Nevertheless, MAS is engaging the relevant FIs to assess if tightening of controls are warranted.
• As ICIJ itself is careful to acknowledge, there are legitimate reasons to set up offshore structures, such as for investment and estate management. However, offshore structures often lack transparency and are thus vulnerable to abuse for illicit activities. Hence, MAS has clear requirements for FIs in Singapore to identify and verify the identities of persons who are beneficial owners or effective controllers of their customer accounts. FIs must understand the reasons for the use of such structures, take measures to ascertain that the assets held in these structures are not illicit, and scrutinize any unusual transactions as part of their ongoing monitoring of the account.
• MAS also supervises the FIs to ensure that their boards and management have implemented robust controls against money laundering and terrorism financing. Where there are breaches of AML/CFT requirements, MAS has taken strong enforcement action.
• In fact, both the licensed trust companies in Singapore mentioned in the Pandora Papers have already been subject to MAS’ supervisory or enforcement actions. One of them, Asiaciti Trust (Singapore) Pte Ltd, paid a composition penalty of $1.1 million imposed by MAS in July last year for its failure to implement adequate AML/CFT policies and procedures. The other trust company, Trident Trust Company (Singapore) Pte Ltd, was directed by MAS in September last year to remediate weaknesses detected in its risk assessment controls during MAS’ supervisory surveillance. Both companies were under intensified scrutiny by MAS before they were mentioned in the Pandora Papers.
• Let me assure this House that Singapore takes the integrity of our financial sector very seriously. As a major international financial centre, Singapore will always face the risk of illicit financial flows.  What is important is that we supervise our FIs well, and take strong enforcement actions where necessary to reduce this risk as much as possible. MAS has been doing this and will continue to do so.

The replies were provided by Mr Lawrence Wong, Deputy Chairman of MAS and Minister for Finance, on behalf of Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Minister in charge of MAS.

Related:

• Video: Leak of Pandora Papers
• Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite’s tax havens
• United States Billionaires Tax Leak, Top 25 Pays 3.4% in Tax Rate from $401 Billion Fortune

MAS:

• $280 Billion Singapore Temasek CEO Ho Ching Retires after 20 Years
• Singapore MAS Bans 2 Former UOB Kay Hian Representatives for Dishonest Conduct on IPO Background Checks
• Singapore MAS FY2020/2021 Report: AUM Reaches $3.48 Trillion
• Singapore Central Bank MAS Reply on 15% Tax rate and Impact on Singapore as a Financial Centre
• Singapore Central Bank MAS to Increase Investigative Power, Enter Premises without Prior Notice or Court Order
• Singapore Central Bank MAS Reprimands AIA, Prudential and Aviva for Breaching Sales Incentives Requirements 
• Singapore Central Bank MAS Allocates $1.8 Billion to 5 Asset Managers for Climate Investments 
• Singapore Central Bank MAS New Board of Directors, Ravi Menon Extends Managing Director Role for 2 Years
• SGX, DBS, Standard Chartered & Temasek Launches New Global Exchange for Carbon Credits
• The Future of Capital is Green: Keynote Address by Ravi Menon at IMAS-Bloomberg Investment Conference 2021
• MAS Makes Key Changes to Senior Management Team, Appoints Ho Hern Shin as new Deputy Managing Director
• Hong Kong & Singapore Regulators Warn Investors of Increased Trading Risks Triggered by Social Media & Online Forums
• Singapore Central Bank MAS Appoints Leong Sing Chiong as New Deputy Managing Director to Oversee Markets & Development

Managing $20 million to $3 billion. Investing $3 million to $300 million.
For Investment Managers, Hedge Funds, Boutique Funds, Private Equity, Venture Capital, Professional Investors, Family Offices, Private Bankers & Advisors, sign up today. Subscribe to Caproasia and receive the latest news, data, insights & reports, events & programs daily at 2 pm.

Join Events & Find Services
Join Investments, Private Wealth, Family Office events in Hong Kong, Singapore, Asia-wide. Find hard-to-find $3 million to $300 million financial & investment services at The Financial Centre | TFC. Find financial, investment, private wealth, family office, real estate, luxury investments, citizenship, law firms & more.  List hard-to-find financial & private wealth services.

Have a product launch? Promote a product or service? List your service at The Financial Centre | TFC. Join interviews & editorial and be featured on Caproasia.com or join Investments, Private Wealth, Family Office events. Contact us at angel@caproasia.com or mail@caproasia.com

Caproasia.com | The leading source of data, research, information & resource for financial professionals, investment managers, professional investors, family offices & advisors to institutions, billionaires, UHNWs & HNWs. Covering capital markets, investments and private wealth in Asia. How do you invest $3 million to $300 million? How do you manage $20 million to $3 billion of assets?

Quick Links

Caproasia Access | Events | Summits | Register Events | The Financial Centre
The 2025 Investment Day | 2025 Family Office Summits | Family Office Circle

2021 Data Release
2020 List of Private Banks in Hong Kong
2020 List of Private Banks in Singapore
2020 Top 10 Largest Family Office
2020 Top 10 Largest Multi-Family Offices
2020 Report: Hong Kong Private Banks & Asset Mgmt - $4.49 Trillion
2020 Report: Singapore Asset Mgmt - $3.48 Trillion AUM


For Investors | Professionals | Executives
Latest data, reports, insights, news, events & programs
Everyday at 2 pm
Direct to your inbox
Save 2 to 8 hours per week. Organised for success

Register Below

For CEOs, Heads, Senior Management, Market Heads, Desk Heads, Financial Professionals, Investment Managers, Asset Managers, Fund Managers, Hedge Funds, Boutique Funds, Analysts, Advisors, Wealth Managers, Private Bankers, Family Offices, Investment Bankers, Private Equity, Institutional Investors, Professional Investors

Get Ahead in 60 Seconds. Join 10,000 +
Save 2 to 8 hours weekly. Organised for Success.

Sign Up / Register

What is most important for you?
Manage investmentsManage assetsManage risksFind informationFind servicesFind advisors / expertsFind clientsGrow AUMNetworkingOthers

You manage / invest
$3 m to $20 m$20 m to $300 m$300 m to $1 b$1 b to $10 bMore than $10 bNo AUM. I advise institutions / CEOs / Entrepreneurs / billionaires / UHNWs & HNWsOthers

You are:
Investment ProfessionalAdvisorProfessional InvestorFinancial ProfessionalManagementCEO & EntrepreneurOthers

Select:
Mailing List / Free TrialSubscription ($70 monthly / $180 yearly)Subscription June Promo ($20 monthly / $180 yearly)Membership ($60 / $680 / $2,000)

Upcoming Events:
2025 Investment Day Hong Kong2025 Investment Day Singapore2025 Investment Summit Hong Kong2025 Investment Summit Singapore2025 Family Office Summit Hong Kong2025 Family Office Summit Singapore

Your Name*

Company*

Job Title*

Email 1 (Work / Personal)*

Email 2 (Work / Personal)

Country

19540

Web links may be disabled on mobile for security.
Please click on desktop.

---

New to Caproasia
Learn More | Sign Up | Subscribe | Register Events

Caproasia Users

• Manage $20 million to $3 billion of assets
• Invest $3 million to $300 million
• Advise institutions, billionaires, UHNWs & HNWs

Caproasia Platforms | 11,000 Investors & Advisors

• Caproasia.com
• Caproasia Access
• Caproasia Events
• The Financial Centre | Find Services
• Membership
• Family Office Circle
• Professional Investor Circle
• Investor Relations Network

Monthly Roundtable & Networking

• Professional Investor
• Family Office
• HNW Partnership

Family Office Programs

• Family Office Circle
• Family Office Networking
• Family Office Roundtable
• The Family Office Summit

The 2025 Investment Day

• March - Hong Kong
• March - Singapore
• July - Hong Kong
• July - Singapore
• Sept- Hong Kong
• Sept - Singapore
• Oct- Hong Kong
• Nov - Singapore
• Visit: The Investment Day | Register: Click here

Caproasia Summits

• The Institutional Investor Summit
• The Investment / Alternatives Summit
• The Private Wealth Summit
• The Family Office Summit
• The CEO & Entrepreneur Summit
• The Capital Markets Summit
• The ESG / Sustainable Investment Summit

Contact Us

For Enquiries, Membership
mail@caproasia.com, angel@caproasia.com

For Listing, Subscription
mail@caproasia.com, claire@caproasia.com

For Press Release, send to:
press@caproasia.com

For Events & Webinars
events@caproasia.com

For Media Kit, Advertising, Sponsorships, Partnerships
angel@caproasia.com

For Research, Data, Surveys, Reports
research@caproasia.com

For General Enquiries
mail@caproasia.com

---

Caproasia | Driving the future of Asia
a financial information technology co.
since 2014

---