(July 9): Singapore’s regulator is working with banks to hash out consistent standards for lenders accepting funds from clients as the Asian financial centre seeks to further boost guardrails against money laundering.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) set up a group that includes representatives from local and global banks in recent weeks, according to people with knowledge of the matter. They will look into how banks perform checks during account opening and verify sources of funds, with the aim of coming up with best practices by the end of the year, the people said, asking not to be named as the discussions are private.

While banks in the country already have stringent requirements, there are uneven standards in how they use documents and obtain evidence to back up clients’ explanations of where assets come from, the people said. The new group will meet about twice a month and is tasked with clarifying existing processes and standardising how firms execute them, one of the people said.

“The MAS engages financial institutions on a regular basis on key issues of interest to the financial industry,” a spokesperson for the financial regulator said in response to queries from Bloomberg News. “We have no announcement to share at this time.”

The move is among the latest efforts by Singapore to police the influx of foreign wealth after last year’s record money laundering case exposed gaps in the system. The S$3 billion (RM10.46 billion) scandal ensnared more than a dozen banks, raising scrutiny over their processes after they opened accounts for the convicted launderers and disbursed loans. Still, some had filed so-called suspicious transaction reports that alerted authorities to the illicit activities.

The work by the group wouldn’t be focused just on the wealth business; it would cut across the banking sector, the people said. Their discussions are still at an early stage and details could be subject to change, the people said.

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