Singapore: A Banking & Finance: Regulatory Overview

Singapore is ranked the 4th leading financial centre in the world, according to the latest edition of the Global Financial Centres Index. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore's integrated financial regulator and is responsible for fostering a sound financial services sector through prudential oversight of all financial institutions (FIs), and for promoting the functioning of financial markets, sound conduct and investor education. In 2025, the key focus areas on the regulatory agenda included:

• keeping Singapore at the forefront of innovation;
• bolstering defences against money laundering/terrorism financing (ML/TF) threats;
• advancing sustainability and climate resilience; and
• enhancing investor protection.

Keeping Singapore at the Forefront of Innovation

There has been significant regulatory focus on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the financial sector. In September 2025, the MAS published an information paper on “Cyber Risks Associated with Deepfakes” to raise FIs’ awareness of emerging threats and risks posed by deepfakes, their potential impact on the financial sector, and measures that can be taken to mitigate these risks. This follows from an earlier information paper published in December 2024 on Artificial Intelligence Model Risk Management. To implement appropriate guardrails to guide the development and adoption of AI, the MAS is also developing a set of guidelines on AI risk management, which will provide FIs with greater clarity on its supervisory expectations.

The MAS is also exploring various other initiatives relating to the use of AI, such as partnering with various key stakeholders, including FIs and unions, on initiatives to uplift AI and Generative AI proficiency and drive workforce transformation within the sector. The MAS is also collaborating with the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) and participating banks to study the feasibility of combining interbank transactions across banks to enable real-time scam detection capabilities, such as through transaction risk scoring and scam account detection. By harnessing AI and pooling data across banks, it hopes to potentially detect the suspicious movement of funds across multiple accounts and take prompt action to investigate or even pre-empt criminal activities.

On the payments front, in June 2025 the MAS and the ABS jointly announced the incorporation of the Singapore Payments Network, which will administer and govern Singapore’s national payment schemes. This is intended to position them for the next stage of growth, and to facilitate collaboration with the MAS on the development of Singapore’s national payments strategy.

Bolstering Defences Against Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Threats

Phase 3 of the Financial Services Markets Act 2022 (FSMA) commenced on 30 June 2025, bringing into force the regime governing digital token service providers (DTSPs) established or incorporated in Singapore that provide digital token services outside Singapore. The MAS has indicated that such licences will only be granted under extremely limited circumstances, as they present higher ML risks, and it would be difficult to effectively supervise such persons due to their substantive activity being outside of Singapore. Consequently, no transitional arrangement was provided for DTSPs, and DTSPs serving only customers outside Singapore were required to suspend or cease this activity by 30 June 2025.

Other regulatory developments on the ML/TF front include the following.

• Proliferation financing (PF): the MAS has clarified that ML would encompass PF activities, so FIs must assess PF risks that may arise when carrying out ML/TF risk assessments.
• Suspicious transaction reporting: the MAS has clarified that suspicious transaction reports (STR) should be filed within five business days after suspicion is first established, unless the circumstances are exceptional or extraordinary.
• Processes for establishing source of wealth (SoW) and source of funds (SoF): the MAS has clarified that information regarding the SoW and SoF should be corroborated as part of anti-money laundering checks. Where the SoW or SoF cannot be corroborated, there should be an assessment of whether the residual risks are acceptable and whether additional risk mitigation measures should be applied. Failure to ascertain the plausibility and legitimacy of such sources may also be grounds for terminating business relations with the customer and/or the filing of an STR.

Advancing Sustainability and Climate Resilience

The MAS has also continued in its steps to advance sustainability and climate resilience. On 4 December 2024, it published an information paper on good disclosure practices for retail ESG funds, aiming to promote clear disclosures that are capable of being substantiated to facilitate investors’ understanding of the key features and risks of an ESG fund and mitigate greenwashing risks. Practices include defining ESG-related terms upfront, clearly setting out how ESG criteria or metrics are used, and the disclosure of additional information, such as stakeholder engagement activities.

In March 2025, the MAS published an information note on the Application of the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy in the Financial and Corporate Sectors (SAT), which provides guidance on how the SAT is used by various market participants and the progress in its adoption since its launch in December 2023. The note aims to raise awareness on the different ways the SAT is being used by profiling actual applications across different user groups, and also provides detailed explanations on how different user groups can use the SAT.

Over the past year, the MAS has also:

• partnered with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to incorporate the International Financial Reporting Standards’ Sustainability Disclosure Standards for SGX-listed issuers from FY2025; and
• jointly published the Multi-Jurisdiction Common Ground Taxonomy (M-CGT) with the People’s Bank of China and the European Union Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union under the International Platform of Sustainable Finance – the M-CGT serves as a technical reference document to identify and assess activities that are classified as green under the EU, China and Singapore taxonomies.

Enhancing Investor Protection

On 25 September 2025, the MAS issued the Guidelines on Standards of Conduct for Digital Advertising Activities, which apply to all FIs and their digital marketers who advertise financial products and services to customers via digital media. Taking effect on 25 March 2026, these guidelines emphasise the MAS’ expectations that FIs conduct digital advertising activities in a responsible and professional manner, and set out five main areas of safeguards that FIs should put in place.

In addition, the MAS has collaborated with the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore to develop a guide for content creators on responsible financial content creation, called the “7 must-knows when sharing financial information online”. The guide, also published on 25 September 2025, covers key considerations when creating content – such as when a licence from the MAS may be required, steps to take before promoting an entity’s products or services, and the disclosure of compensation received.

2026 and Beyond

The regulatory initiatives above underscore the MAS’s continuing policy to promote innovation and sustainability whilst maintaining a safe and resilient financial centre. FIs in Singapore can expect such policies to continue in 2026 and beyond. It is imperative for FIs to be prepared to seize opportunities arising from the new initiatives, while proactively managing risks so as to maintain a safe and resilient financial system.