This is the first time that a Singaporean has assumed the presidency of the global financial watchdog. At the same time, the FATF said it was reviewing Russia's role in light of the military invasion of Ukraine.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has appointed a Singaporean to lead its operations for the first time in its history.

T Raja Kumar, 60, will replace Marcus Pleyer (both pictured) as FATF’s next president, assuming office on 1 July. Kumar is a senior advisor at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singapore and has been the co-chairman of the National Interagency Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) since January 2015.

Kumar has been active in leading Singapore’s efforts against money laundering and terrorism financing, and has managed Singapore’s efforts to meet FATF standards, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement yesterday. 

MAS also noted that Kumar, who has led Singapore’s delegation to the FATF since 2015, has been a member of the steering group which provides advice to the FATF president, since July 2018. He will take on the role from Pleyer, deputy director-general in Germany’s federal ministry of finance, for a fixed-term of two years.

“Congratulations to Raja for being the first Singaporean to lead the FATF,” K Shanmugam, Singapore's Minister for Home Affairs, said. “Raja’s capabilities, international experience, and work as a senior public sector leader, operating in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural environment across a range of disciplines, will come in useful to lead an international organisation such as the FATF.”

“Singapore strongly supports the outstanding work of the FATF in establishing and implementing global standards to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. Raja has a long history of contributing to the FATF’s work,” Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s Minister for Finance, said.

Singapore has been a member of the FATF since 1992, and this will be the first time the city-state is taking on the presidency.

Ukraine
Separately, the FATF has issued a statement on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it is reviewing Russia's role at the FATF and will “consider what future steps are necessary to uphold these core values.” It is monitoring the situation closely and will “consider all options” to help promote the security, safety and the integrity of the global financial system," the statement said.

The FATF expressed “deep sorrow due to the loss of people’s lives in connection with the tragic developments in Ukraine,” and “grave concern” about the impact of the Russian invasion on the money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risk environment as well as the integrity of the financial system, the broader economy and safety and security. 

“The actions of the Government of the Russian Federation run counter to the FATF core principles and represent a gross violation of the commitment upon which FATF ministers agree to implement and support the FATF Standards. The FATF is reviewing Russia’s role at the FATF and will consider what future steps are necessary to uphold these core values,” the statement said. 

The FATF called for immediate humanitarian assistance and urged all jurisdictions to “be vigilant to the possibility of emerging risks from circumvention of measures taken in order to protect the international financial system from the ML/TF/PF risks resulting from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”

Based in Paris, the FATF is the inter-governmental global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog established by the G7 in 1989 that sets international standards to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing. It also evaluates and monitors member jurisdictions to ensure that they implement its standards. As such, it has just added the United Arab Emirates to its list of jurisdictions “under increased monitoring” or “grey list."