The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently raised its attention on potential emerging money laundering risks from Variable Capital Companies (VCCs), and virtual assets or digital payment tokens. Read the article here.
The VCC is a flexible corporate entity and the adoption rate has been very encouraging, boosted by various grants and incentives. Likewise, Singapore has also witnessed an influx of payments services providers as the country embarks and accelerates its ecosystem in that space. The MAS is conscious of the money laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (TF) risks that these initiatives may pose. The MAS will be setting up an industry group to identify emerging trends, step up its supervisory efforts and engage the financial institutions through surveys and information gathering.
The Singapore National Risk Assessment was first issued in 2014, identifying certain sectors as having higher ML/TF risks. Recently, the Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment was issued in 2020, listing digital token service providers as “Medium-Low” risk. We expect VCCs, virtual assets or digital payment tokens to be a significant influence in shaping future national risk assessments.
Disclaimer: The views or opinions expressed are provided for general information and should not be relied upon as legal or professional advice.