Six banks have signed up for Singapore's newly added government e-service on its digital national trade platform, as part of overall efforts against money laundering and terrorism financing.
Currently, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, ICBC, MUFG Bank, OCBC Bank and UOB have signed up for the Trade Finance Compliance (TFC) service, a new service designed to help financial institutions better manage compliance challenges and assess fraud risks in trade financing,
«By digitalizing the trade finance compliance check process and directly referencing pricing and permit-related customs data on Singapore imports and exports, the TFC will increase the efficiency and accuracy of trade finance compliance checks for financial institutions in Singapore,» said Gillian Tan, executive director, Financial Markets Development Department in a media release on Thursday.
«As a result, these financial institutions will be able to better assess fraud and mitigate risks associated with trade-based money laundering,» Tan added.
Help Validate Underlying Trade
The TFC service was created by a joint partnership between Singapore Customs, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and financial institutions. The new service on the Networked Trade Platform (NTP) will help solve banks' inability to validate the underlying trade and the lack of reliable data to conduct price checks for non-commodity goods, both government bodies said.
Tapping on data derived from permits issued by Singapore Customs, TFC allows financial institutions to reference such information to augment their checks for trade finance compliance. To ensure proper data governance, traders can give consent on the NTP for their data to be shared directly with financial institutions of their choice.
