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New AML rules to apply to payment services in Lion City

Chris Hamblin

5 January 2020

Digital payment token (DPT) services are already classified as 'higher risk' in AML terms because the transactions they provide are anonymous, speedy and cross-border.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state's all-in-one central bank, promotional agency and financial regulator, has laid out its proposals in this area. It is likely, after a brief period of consultation, to create rules to impose AML rules on:

On top of this, the regulator wants to acquire legal powers to impose "user protection measures" on certain DPT service providers and (by way of subsidiary legislation) "additional measures."

"User protection measures" might include:

Throughout its consultative document, the MAS writes as though its proposals are already enshrined in law. The outcome of the consultative process therefore seems a foregone conclusion.