Singapore regulator gives customer onboarding guidance
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued new guidance to financial institutions (FIs) on the use of technology solutions for non-face-to-face customer onboarding.
Like a diligent parent confronted with a manic kids’ party, MAS wants everything to be smooth and orderly. In its latest edict, the authority requires FIs operating in Singapore to implement “robust controls” when onboarding new customers, e.g. when opening a bank account, to detect and deter money laundering or terrorism financing.
Ho Hern Shin, assistant managing director (banking and insurance), MAS, says it “encourages FIs to use technology that helps to increase efficiency and improve the customer on-boarding experience while safeguarding against money laundering and terrorism financing risks”.
MAS says it already allows FIs to carry out non-face-to-face (NFTF) verification of customer identity, provided adequate measures are in place to guard against impersonation.
It has provided additional guidance that these measures could include biometric identification, real-time video conferencing, and secure digital signature using public key infrastructure (PKI)-based credentials.
MAS will also allow the use of MyInfo2 for NFTF customer identification and verification. It will not require FIs that have been given access to a customer’s MyInfo data to obtain additional documents to verify a customer’s identity.
FIs using MyInfo will also not be required to separately obtain a photograph of the customer. The use of MyInfo will streamline customer due-diligence checks across the financial industry.
Taking stock
In a separate development, MAS and the Securities Commission Malaysia will work together to create a stock market trading link between Bursa Malaysia (BM) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) by the end of this year.
The trading link will allow investors to trade and settle shares listed on each other’s stock market in a more convenient and cost efficient manner. They say “retail investors notably will benefit from such a link”.
This initiative follows from the ongoing efforts of the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) to deepen financial connectivity across the region’s capital markets.
