Singapore suffering "reputational dent..." (WSJ) due to large withdrawals from Singapore under Tax Amnesty in Indonesia

[PNGMK]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/indonesias- ... 1475528404

[bgd]

Need to be a subscriber to read, but I get the gist.

[PNGMK]

AH sorry. Some key clips pasted but not the whole article.

SINGAPORE—A tax amnesty in Indonesia that has pulled billions of dollars in undeclared money out of Singapore is refocusing attention on the challenge facing the city-state as it tries to expand its business as private banker to wealthy Asians while safeguarding its reputation for good governance.

More than half the amount collected—57%—came from Singapore, it said.

SNIP

Prominent bankers and lawyers say privately that more such embarrassments could be in store as Singapore’s financial system becomes increasingly reliant on private wealth.

“This is an occupational hazard of major financial centers,” said Nizam Ismail, a partner and specialist in compliance at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP.

Policing a financial sector with so many foreign clients is challenging. The intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force, which sets global standards on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, said last week that Singapore hadn’t prosecuted as many cases of cross-border money laundering as would be expected given its risk profile.

SNIP

Singapore is home to the regional investment-banking and private-wealth-management operations of many large Western banks, including Credit Suisse AG., Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Assets under management grew 30% to nearly $1.8 trillion in 2014, according to central bank figures.

Much of that money comes from wealthy foreigners, drawn by its strong rule of law, respect for banking secrecy and low tax rates. As of 2014, Singapore banks held $1.1 trillion in offshore private wealth, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

SNIP

Singapore has signed up to an increasingly strict international code of conduct on anti-money-laundering and tax-evasion regulation, including an agreement requiring more than 100 jurisdictions—including Malaysia and Indonesia—to automatically share information on accounts and taxpayers covered starting next year.

SNIP

Ong Ai Boon, director of the Association of Banks in Singapore, has welcomed Indonesia’s amnesty “as an opportunity for clients to regularize their tax affairs.”

The biggest blow to Singapore’s reputation has come from the alleged misappropriation of billions of dollars from 1MDB, much of which passed through Singapore’s banking system, according to court records, documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the probes. The fund has denied wrongdoing and said it would cooperate with any lawful investigation.

SNIP

[PNGMK]

This is why we can't have nice banking things now.

[martincymru]

Why is CPIB parked within the Prime Minister's Office and not the Police?