The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued the revised Guidelines on Fair Dealing — Board and Senior Management Responsibilities for Delivering Fair Dealing Outcomes to Customers (“Guidelines”) on 30 May 2024.
This comes around 17 months after the MAS issued the Consultation Paper P013-2022, which proposed amendments to the Guidelines on Fair Dealing. The amendments widen the scope of the Guidelines to apply to all financial institutions (FIs) in relation to all products and services offered by FIs to users and prospective users, and introduce additional principles and guidance for selected areas.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued the revised Guidelines on Fair Dealing — Board and Senior Management Responsibilities for Delivering Fair Dealing Outcomes to Customers (“Guidelines”) on 30 May 2024. This comes around 17 months after the MAS issued the Consultation Paper P013-2022, which proposed amendments to the Guidelines on Fair Dealing. The amendments widen the scope of the Guidelines to apply to all financial institutions (FIs) in relation to all products and services offered by FIs to users and prospective users (“Customers”), and introduce additional principles and guidance for selected areas.

On 28 March 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a response paper to feedback received on the repeal of the regulatory regime for registered fund management companies (RFMC).

MAS targets to repeal the RFMC regime on 1 August 2024. Existing RFMCs intending to continue with regulated fund management activity after this date must apply to be a licensed fund management company restricted to serving accredited and institutional investors.

On 7 March 2024, the Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill (“FIMA Bill”) was read for the second time in the Singapore Parliament. Broadly, the FIMA Bill seeks to reinforce the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) mandate over Singapore’s financial sector.

Excerpt: This update focuses particularly on the expansion of scope to domestic money transfer services, cross-border money transfer services and digital payment token services, and examines who are the persons affected by such expansion, as well as what needs to be done by such affected persons in order to benefit from transitional arrangements and continue operations.

On 12 December 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced that it will proceed with the proposal to require financial institutions to conduct and respond to reference checks. The reference check requirements have been introduced following the MAS’ June 2021 public consultation on proposals to mandate reference checks.

On 18 October 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore issued a set of consultation papers proposing guidelines on transition planning by banks, insurers and asset managers to enable the global transition to a net-zero economy.

On 18 October 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a set of consultation papers proposing guidelines on transition planning by banks, insurers and asset managers (“TP Guidelines”) to enable the global transition to a net-zero economy. The TP Guidelines set out MAS’ supervisory expectations for the in-scope financial institutions to have a sound transition-planning process to enable their customers and investee companies to take effective climate change mitigation and adaptation measures when dealing with the global transition to a net-zero economy and the expected physical effects of climate change.

On 15 August 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the features of a new regulatory framework for single-currency stablecoins (SCS) that are issued in Singapore and pegged to the Singapore dollar or Group of Ten currencies. The framework takes into account the feedback that the MAS received following a public consultation paper published in October 2022, and the MAS has issued response to feedback on the same.

On 31 July 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) published a Consultation Paper setting out a proposed regulatory framework for Single Family Offices (SFOs) in Singapore. The new measures under this proposed framework allows MAS to enhance its surveillance and defense against money laundering risks within the SFO sector.