Singapore - Banking Systems Singapore - Banking Systems
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) performs all the functions of a central bank including the issuance of currency. The unit of legal tender is the Singapore dollar. Besides regulating financial institutions, the MAS has a Financial Sector Promotion Department that promotes new financial activities, develops IT infrastructure and manpower resources for the financial sector, and designs appropriate incentives to attract international financial firms to conduct activities in Singapore.
The MAS regulates all banking activities as provided for under the Banking Act. Singapore maintains legal distinctions between foreign and local banks, and the type of license (i.e., full service, wholesale, and offshore banks) held by foreign commercial banks. As of March 2019, 28 foreign full-service licensees, 97 wholesale licensees, and 27 merchant banks are licensed to conduct corporate finance, investment banking and other fee-based activities. Full banks may provide the whole range of banking business but are subject to restrictions on the number of places of business, ATMs and ATM networks. Additional “Qualifying Full Bank” (QFB) licenses may be granted to a subset of full banks, which provides greater branching privileges and greater access to the retail market than other full banks. As of March 2019, there are 10 banks operating QFB licenses.
Singapore has no trading restrictions on foreign-owned stockbrokers. There is no cap on the aggregate investment by foreigners regarding the paid-up capital of dealers that are members of the SGX. Direct registration of foreign mutual funds is allowed, provided the MAS approves the prospectus and the fund. The USSFTA has relaxed conditions that foreign asset managers must meet to offer products under the government-managed compulsory pension fund (Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme).