The Regulatory Architecture: MAS, the Banking Act, the SFA, the FAA and the FSMA

Read the PDF edition (2 pages)

A financial centre that manages wealth for clients from many countries sells, among other things, the quality of its supervision. Clients who move assets to Singapore expect their bank to be solvent, their adviser to be competent and their custodian to keep their securities apart from its own. They also expect a regulator able to act when any of these expectations fails. This chapter describes the legal framework that is meant to secure those expectations. It covers the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Banking Act, the Securities and Futures Act, the Financial Advisers Act and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022, together with the guidelines on individual accountability that MAS has added to them since 2020.

The chapter opens Part E, which turns from the history of the financial centre to the practice of wealth management today. The parts before it traced how the colonial port acquired English commercial law, how the Asian Dollar Market of 1968 created an offshore banking sector and how the founding of MAS in 1971 gave the young state a central bank and a supervisor. Those chapters explained how the institutions came into being. This chapter explains how they work in 2026. The subjects that follow it in Part E, from the end of banking secrecy for foreign tax purposes to family offices, trusts and fund management, all rest on the statutes presented here.

The Geneva volume contains a parallel chapter on the regulatory framework of Swiss wealth management, which describes a system of several complementary federal statutes applied by FINMA with the help of audit firms, supervisory organisations and ombudsman bodies. Singapore offers a revealing contrast. Its statutes are also divided by activity, but a single authority administers all of them and also acts as central bank, reserve manager and promoter of the financial centre. The comparison at the end of this chapter asks what this concentration of functions means for clients and for firms.

Essentials

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, founded on 1 January 1971, is both the central bank and the integrated supervisor of banks, insurers, capital markets intermediaries, financial advisers and payment firms. Its statute gives the object of a sound and reputable financial centre priority over the object of growing the centre. The Banking Act 1970 licenses banks and, since 2021, merchant banks, protects customer information under section 47 and contains no separate licence for private banking. The Securities and Futures Act 2001 requires a capital markets services licence for seven regulated activities and divides investors into retail, accredited and institutional classes. The Financial Advisers Act 2001 governs advice on investment products and life insurance, while the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 gathers cross-sector powers on prohibition orders, technology risk, anti-money laundering and digital token service providers. Guidelines on individual accountability, effective since September 2021, make senior managers answerable for the conduct of the business under their purview.

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

English

Contact

Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

All Singapore law advice is provided through KGP Legal LLC, an established and duly licensed firm of Singapore advocates and solicitors.

KGP Legal LLC is a medium-sized law firm in Singapore that is capable of providing the full range of legal services and corporate administration work. Please contact me directly at [email protected] if you need any further information.

Get in touch →

Articles and Insights

Setting up or expanding in Singapore?

SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

If you are planning a company incorporation, an investment, a holding structure or a market entry through Singapore, you can reach Dr Ressos directly at [email protected]. Singapore law advice is provided by KGP Legal LLC, a licensed firm of Singapore advocates and solicitors. As a Singapore law practice, KGP Legal LLC is authorised under the Legal Profession Act 1966 to advise on Singapore law and to represent clients before the Singapore courts; foreign law practices with an office in Singapore are, as a rule, not permitted to do either. Dr Ressos and his team facilitate the full range of Singapore legal, compliance and company administration services, including company incorporation, corporate transactions, commercial contracts, crypto and digital assets, financial regulatory work and dispute resolution, including litigation in the Singapore courts. For legal, tax and fiduciary services in Switzerland, see helveticaregister.com.