Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has not issued a directive – tacit or otherwise– for banks to keep quiet about the origins of wealth inflows, the Private Banking Industry Group (PBIG) said in a statement on Apr. 14.

The statement comes in response to claims that MAS had asked banks to avoid discussing the source of wealth inflows, as reported by the Financial Times (FT).

The FT report cited "multiple people who attended" the industry group's meeting as its sources.

The PBIG is currently co-chaired by MAS and UBS. It holds a meeting three times a year to discuss matters to enhance the trust, reputation and growth of Singapore’s private banking industry.

"Avoid talking about origins of cash flowing into Singapore": FT report

According to FT, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) allegedly requested the world's biggest banks to avoid talking about the origins of significant sums of cash flowing into the country over the past year.

The instruction was supposedly given on Feb. 20, at a PBIG meeting attended by bankers, regulators, and other attendees, FT reported.

One senior banker who spoke to FT alleged that at the meeting on Feb. 20, MAS asked banks not single out any particular market when reporting the sources of their inflows. FT said this banker had been "briefed on the discussion".

According to FT's interviewees, MAS did not identify any country in specific in reference to the origin of cash flow, but said "it was clear" that the regulators were referring to China.

“It was obvious that they [MAS] were referring to China with all the press about family offices setting up here and mainlanders moving over, though they didn’t single out a particular country,” a banker from an international bank said, as quoted by FT.

MAS has not issued any directive to banks

In response to Mothership's queries, PBIG said MAS "has not issued any directive to banks – tacit or otherwise – to avoid discussing the origins of wealth inflows into Singapore."

The Feb. 20 meeting placed importance on maintaining robust risk management controls to safeguard against money laundering and terrorism financing risks in the face of fund flows into Singapore, PBIG said.

They also discussed how to facilitate the deployment of wealth to purposeful causes, given the growing interest from family offices in philanthropy and other activities that will benefit Singapore and the region.

PBIG maintained that the overall inflows into Singapore remain diversified, saying:

"At its most recent meeting on Feb. 20, 2023, the PBIG noted that while public commentary tended to focus on fund flows from China into Singapore, the sources of overall inflows into Singapore in fact remain diversified. The increased fund flows into Singapore were from high net-worth individuals from different markets."

Related stories

Top image via Kin Pastor/Pexels.