Anti-Money Laundering Training 2017
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We held our second Anti-Money Laundering (AML) training seminar on 17 Feb 2017. It was well received with more than 90 participants. This year, instead of general knowledge or concepts in AML/CFT, we focus on giving the participants the tools to develop and implement good AML/CFT Internal Policies, Procedures and Controls (IPPC). We also covered the latest developments in the area of beneficial ownership, and shared with the audience some open source tools for
How to find beneficial owners? Guide to meet ACRA AML requirements.
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Beneficial owners have in the recent past come under the lime light due to release of the Panama Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The Panama Papers are approximately 11.5 million of leaked documents from a Panama based Corporate Services Provider (CSP) Mossack Fonseca, detailing how some of the wealthy and powerful individuals and politicians are using webs of offshore companies for illegal purposes, such as fraud, tax evasions, or to avoid
How to prepare for ACRA AML/CFT review – Checklist for busy people
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Since the implementation of the ACRA (Amendment) Act in 2014, ACRA has engaged audit firms to conduct independent AML/CFT reviews for registered filing agents (RFAs) or corporate service providers (CSPs). Under the new AML/CFT framework, it is a requirement for CSPs to develop and implement internal policies, procedures and controls to comply with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations on combating of money laundering and terrorism financing. So how can CSPs (or similarly in the
Phone Scams and Anti-Money Laundering
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In recent months, there have been an increase in phone scammers in Singapore <Read about phone scams here>. Such scammers would impersonate themselves as employees of DHL, DBS or Chinese authorities and claim that the victim has an illegal parcel held by the Chinese customs, and they would require the victim to transfer huge sums of money to get out of trouble. In the last three months, there were more than 50 reported cases, and
Management Oversight – Lessons Learnt from BSI AML Control Failures
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on 24 May 2016 that it has served BSI Bank Limited (BSI Bank) notice of intention to withdraw its status as a merchant bank in Singapore for serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight of the bank’s operations, and gross misconduct by some of the bank’s staff. Although there were many control failures, serious breaches of regulations, unacceptable risk culture and acts of gross misconduct
Don’t Be a Corporate Money Mule
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Abdul Ghani Tahir, a director of a company, was recently convicted to 2 years 3 months and barred from being a company director for 5 years, for his role in laundering $1.2 million of illicit funds. The full report of the news can be found here. Interestingly, Abdul Ghani is a Chartered Accountant and also provides corporate secretarial services to his clients. His services include acting as a resident director for his foreign clients who
7 Things You Need to do to Comply with ACRA AML/CFT Requirements
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With effect from 15 May 2015, ACRA has implemented an enhanced regulatory framework for corporate services providers (CSPs) to combat money laundering (ML) and the terrorism financing (TF). Under the enhanced regulatory framework, persons who wish to provide corporate services will need to register as Filing Agents (FAs) or Qualified Individuals (Qis). The new framework seeks to ensure that CSPs which help to setup companies conduct the required due diligence checks and have robust policies,
Great Turnout at our Anti Money Laundering Seminar
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We welcomed 2016 with our first anti-money laundering seminar with the corporate secretarial and chartered accountant practitioners on 25 Jan 2016. The turnout was encouraging, with more than 100 seminar participants. During the seminar, we shared our understanding of the ACRA Regulations on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), and the specific steps Corporate Services Providers (CSPs) and Chartered Accountants (CAs) can take to implement effective AML/CFT procedures within their companies.
Proposed amendments to MAS Notices to Financial Institutions on AML/CFT and their impact to Customer Screening
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MAS’s proposed amendments place more rigorous requirements on financial and other institutions to screen their customers, related parties and partners against lists of sanctioned and high‐risk entities, as well as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). This article identifies the elements of MAS’s recommendations relevant and specifically to Customer Screening. Many of MAS’s current and new recommendations affect not only companies and institutions but also small business owners like money-changers, remittance agents and financial advisors. It
SentroWeb – Web based AML/CFT and PEP Search
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Ingenique Solutions is pleased to announce the General Availability of SentroWeb – our web-based AML/CFT (Anti Money Laundering/ Countering Financing of Terrorism) solution for screening of sanctioned persons, entities and PEP (Politically Exposed Person). With the proposed changes by MAS on AML/CFT regulations, SentroWeb is designed to assist business owners, like yourself, in the Customer Due Diligence (CDD) process by putting a powerful name search capability at your premise. Our database is linked to international