SINGAPORE will review its internal incentive administration process for single family offices (SFOs) that are applying for tax incentives in Singapore, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan.

This comes as one or more of the accused persons in Singapore’s largest money-laundering probe may have been linked to SFOs that were awarded tax incentives, Tan said in Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 3).

Tan was delivering the second of three ministerial statements addressing the case in Tuesday’s Parliament sitting.

At the point of application for the tax incentives, no adverse information of note related to the individuals and entities had surfaced, he noted.

Tan said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is reviewing its internal incentive administration process and will “tighten them where necessary”.

He noted that MAS had in July announced plans to strengthen surveillance and defence against potential money-laundering risks by SFOs.

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It proposed to harmonise the class exemption criteria for all SFOs operating in Singapore through a revised framework, to ensure all SFOs come under anti-money laundering controls.

The changes came shortly after MAS announced several adjustments to its tax incentive scheme for SFOs in Singapore, to encourage them to invest more in the Republic.

Tan added that the platform called Cosmic, short for Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Information and Cases, is on track to be launched in the second half of 2024, if not earlier.

MAS will permit participant financial institutions to share information from Cosmic with its local and overseas affiliates, provided conditions to ensure confidentiality are met, Tan said.

There are no plans to extend Cosmic to entities beyond the financial sector, however, or for Cosmic to be shared with financial institutions overseas or with international counterparts, he added.