In August 2024, Singapore’s Parliament enacted the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters Act 2024, a pivotal step in tightening the city-state’s defences against financial crime.
The law is widely seen as a direct response to a massive $2bn money-laundering operation uncovered by the Singapore Police Force in August 2023, which shook confidence in the nation’s financial integrity, claims Workfusion.
However, regulators had already been developing stronger anti-money laundering (AML) measures following a series of scandals involving illicit financial flows and regulatory failures over the past decade.
Singapore’s global status as both a financial powerhouse and trading hub exposes it to unique risks. As the most regulated and business-friendly nation in Southeast Asia, Singapore’s deep liquidity and international reach make it attractive to legitimate investors — and, unfortunately, to criminal enterprises seeking to exploit its infrastructure. Illicit financial flows (IFFs) often enter through complex cross-border schemes involving Southeast Asian neighbours, from illegal logging and mining operations in Indonesia to cyberfraud rings operating out of Cambodia. Meanwhile, the import and export of goods linked to environmental crimes add another layer of exposure for Singapore’s financial and trade systems.
Several major international cases underscored the urgency for reform. Singapore’s role in the 1MDB scandal between 2013 and 2019 led to hefty fines for local banks over AML compliance lapses. The 2020 collapse of Germany’s Wirecard also had a Singapore link, with the company’s Asian operations central to the fraud and four Singaporean banks penalised for weak controls. These incidents, along with numerous regional money-laundering schemes, reinforced the need for legislative overhaul.
The 2024 Act is part of a broader national effort to preserve Singapore’s reputation as a trusted global financial centre. It complements other key initiatives launched that year, including the Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering Information & Cases (COSMIC) platform and the National Anti-Money Laundering Strategy. Together, these measures reflect a coordinated push to strengthen transparency, streamline investigations, and improve inter-agency cooperation.
The new law focuses on three main objectives: empowering law enforcement to more effectively prosecute money-laundering offences, improving the management of seized assets, and aligning Singapore’s framework with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. To achieve this, it introduces major amendments across multiple existing laws.
First, changes to the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 mean prosecutors no longer need to prove a direct link between criminal activity and laundered money. Instead, demonstrating that the accused knew or should have known the funds were illicit is sufficient — a move designed to tackle money mules and foreign-linked laundering cases.
Second, updates to the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 allow authorities to sell seized assets if suspects abscond for more than six months, preserving value and reducing maintenance costs.
Third, amendments to the Casino Control Act 2006 now require casino operators to perform customer due diligence (CDD) checks for cash transactions or deposits of S$4,000 and above, aligning casino compliance requirements with FATF expectations.
Finally, amendments to trade and tax legislation — including the Free Trade Zones Act, Goods and Services Tax Act, Income Tax Act, and Regulation of Imports and Exports Act — enhance data sharing between government agencies and the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office (STRO). This facilitates better detection and investigation of money-laundering and terrorism financing activities.
For banks and financial institutions, the new Act underscores the need for heightened vigilance. Compliance teams, legal officers, and senior executives must ensure their institutions fully understand their exposure and implement best practices to identify the origins of funds and verify client identities. As Singapore continues to position itself as a clean and transparent financial hub, this legislation reinforces the message that financial misconduct — whether domestic or foreign — will not be tolerated.
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