To assist banks in preventing money laundering and terrorism funding, MAS introduces the new Cosmic platform.

Through the exchange of client data, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced the creation of a new centralised digital platform named Cosmic, which is intended to assist banks in the fight against money laundering and terrorism funding.

Travon Stracke

April 04, 2024

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Payments

Six commercial Singaporean banks, including Citibank, DBS, HSBC, OCBC, UOB, and Standard Chartered Bank, collaborated with MAS to develop Cosmic, and these financial institutions were the first to use the solution in its early stages.

According to MAS, the three main financial crime threats in commercial banking that are the focus of voluntary information exchange between member banks via Cosmic are incidences of proliferation funding, the abuse of legal persons, and the misuse of trade finance for unlawful objectives.

The Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2023 has been revised in light of Cosmic's arrival, according to the regulator, to provide the legal framework and guarantee that the required protections are in place for this kind of information exchange.

According to MAS, "red flags" or "certain objectively-defined indicators of suspicion" must be present in the "customer's profile or behavior" for the sharing of customer information amongst participating financial institutions.

It continues, "Participating FIs are required by the FSMA to have operational safeguards and policies in place to protect the confidentiality of information shared." "This will protect the interests of the vast majority of legitimate customers while enabling participating financial institutions to share information on potentially criminal behavior."

According to Loo Siew Yee, the assistant MD (Policy, Payments and Financial Crime) for the regulator, financial institutions would be able to “warn each other of suspicious activities” and quickly perform more informed risk assessments thanks to the Cosmic platform.

She continues, "This will enhance Singapore's capacity to maintain our standing as a reliable and well-regulated financial hub."