In a landmark move to fight financial crime, Singapore has announced its plans to build a digital platform called Cosmic, that will allow banks to share customer information to root out instances like money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing. 

Associate Professor Kelvin Law from the Division of Accounting at NTU’s Nanyang Business School shares his perspective on the gravity of the issue at hand.

Highlights:

00:59 - Let’s step back a little bit. What are the first key indicators signalling a potential illicit transaction such as money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing - the key areas that this upcoming platform is hoping to target?

01:48 - Do we know how extensive the financial crime networks are and are we really getting to the root of the problem here? 

02:27 - So how frequently do such crimes happen?

02:52 - MAS has identified the inability of financial institutions to alert one another to unusual activity in their customers’ accounts as one of the crucial weaknesses to effectively detect illicit financial flows currently. Could you give us an example illustrating the challenge banks face in weeding out these potentially suspicious accounts? 

04:33 - As you’ve described, financial criminals of today avoid detection by making illicit transactions across an ever-shifting web of accounts. In what ways is that behaviour different from that of the past? 

05:30 - Kelvin, I'm just thinking about the potential consequences of this new platform. Are there any challenges in implementing this platform?

06:52 - So from a legal point of view, what are some of the appropriate safeguards you feel should be put in place to prevent misuse?

07:36 - How much of a paradigm shift would you say this latest move is when it comes to sharing of information from bank to bank? 

08:25 - How effective do you think this platform will be? Are you optimistic about it? 

09:24 - How do you reconcile different types of data, especially with overseas banks in the picture as well?

Presented by: Lynlee Foo

This podcast is produced and edited by Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)