Singapore’s parliament has passed a law requiring all casinos to improve their due diligence in order to combat money laundering related to terrorist financing and weapon funding.
Casino operators are required to conduct enhanced due diligence checks (CDDs) under the Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters Bill.
They will also help to detect and stop money-laundering (ML) attempts that could support terrorist financing and proliferation funding (PF), both of which are related to illegally developing and supplying weapons of mass devastation.
Casino operators in Singapore will be required to conduct CDD checks on all cash transactions and deposits exceeding S$4,000.
Currently, CDD checks are performed when casino operators either makes a single transaction of S$10,000 (PS5,800/EUR6,850/$7,398) or more, or receives S$5,000 or more in a single transaction to be deposited into a deposit account.
The Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs issued a press release on 2 July stating: “To ensure that our processes are aligned with FATF (Financial Action Task Force) standards, these changes will also require casino operators consider PF risk when performing CDD checks. Singapore’s Gambling Regulatory Authority will have the power to issue regulations requiring casinos to detect and prevent PF.
FATF, the Global Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Watchdog.
According to the government, it wants to improve the efficiency of the laws that are in place to combat the “evolving criminal landscape”. This will be done by giving more power to the law enforcement agencies and improving the processes related to AML.
This bill is the result of three days’ discussions in Singapore by the FATF, although Singapore does not appear on the FATF black list or gray list which could require action or more monitoring.
On Tuesday, 2 July, the bill was presented for first reading to Singapore’s parliament.
Resorts World Sentosa, which failed to perform CDD checks and violated AML regulations, was fined S$2.3m in December.
According to the GRA, Resorts World Sentosa violated Singapore law by failing to carry out required checks. The Casino Control Act of 2006 and the Casino Control Regulations (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and Prevention of Money Laundering) of 2009 are among them.
