The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has identified scams, cyber-enabled fraud and illegal gambling among the key money laundering threats facing Singapore, while also praising the city-state’s gambling regulatory oversight and broader anti-money laundering framework in its latest mutual evaluation report released on May 6th.
The report, jointly published by FATF and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), said Singapore maintained a ‘robust understanding‘ of its money laundering and terrorism financing risks and demonstrated ‘strong domestic cooperation‘ among regulators, law enforcement agencies, and financial institutions.
FATF noted that Singapore’s role as a major international financial and wealth management hub continued to expose it to significant illicit financial flows linked to transnational criminal activity, including cross-border organized crime and illegal gambling operations targeting the country.
‘Scams and fraud are identified as the highest money laundering threats for Singapore,‘ the report stated. FATF also identified corruption, tax crimes, and illegal gambling among the country’s major predicate offenses linked to money laundering activity.
The evaluation noted that Singapore’s open economy, large volume of cross-border transactions and status as a regional financial center increase its vulnerability to the movement and integration of illicit funds originating overseas.
Casino oversight receives positive assessment
While highlighting broader financial crime risks, FATF also gave positive assessments of Singapore’s casino regulatory oversight.
The report said Singapore’s Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) demonstrated a ‘high-level understanding‘ of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing risks within the gambling sector and applied ‘stringent supervision‘ over the city-state’s two integrated resort operators — Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.
FATF noted that Singapore casino operators had implemented ‘robust‘ customer due diligence and monitoring systems, including identity verification procedures and transaction monitoring measures designed to detect suspicious financial activity.
According to the report, Singapore authorities conducted 16 examinations of casino operators between 2020 and 2024, covering customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and suspicious transaction reporting obligations. During the same review period, regulators issued nine warning letters and six financial penalties totaling nearly SG$2.7 million ($2.1 million) related to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing breaches.
SG$3 billion laundering case highlighted
The report cited the SG$3 billion ($2.3 billion) money laundering case uncovered in 2023 as a major example of the scale and complexity of illicit funds flowing through Singapore’s financial system. Authorities seized luxury properties, vehicles, cash, cryptocurrency and other high-value assets linked to foreign nationals.
FATF said Singapore authorities had demonstrated an ability to detect and disrupt large-scale laundering operations through financial intelligence and coordinated investigations.
According to the evaluation, Singapore conducted more than 11,000 money laundering investigations over the past five years, with over 80 percent initiated by victims of cyber-enabled fraud. However, FATF noted that only 682 of those investigations resulted in prosecution.
The organization also said investigations involving tax crimes, trade-based money laundering and complex financial crime appeared comparatively limited relative to Singapore’s overall risk profile.
Singapore received ‘Substantial Effectiveness‘ ratings on seven of FATF’s 11 Immediate Outcomes and ‘Moderate Effectiveness‘ on the remaining four. The country was placed under FATF’s ‘regular follow-up‘ process, improving from the ‘enhanced follow-up‘ status assigned in 2016.
In a statement, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the report affirmed that Singapore maintains a ‘robust framework for combatting financial crime,’ while adding that authorities would continue strengthening measures to address evolving risks.
