Ong Chong Tee: The future of banking - evolution, revolution or a big bang Introductory remarks by Mr Ong Chong Tee, Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the German-Singaporean Financial Forum, Singapore, 16 April 2018. * * * Dr Johannes Beermann, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank His Excellency Dr Ulrich Sante, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Dr Claus Trenner, President of the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen It is my pleasure to join you this morning at the inaugural German-Singaporean Financial Forum. Bilateral relations Singapore and Germany have strong bilateral relations at many levels. (a) Last year, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met in Berlin in July, and later, President Halimah Yacob hosted President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during his state visit in November. (b) Singapore was also invited to the G20 meetings in 2017 during Germany’s Presidency. The close partnerships at both government and business levels underscore the many common values and strategic interests that we share. For example, in the area of financial services, there is strong emphasis on financial institutions having high standards of conduct and prudence given the importance of savings and investment in our societies. MAS and our German counterparts, the Bundesbank and BaFin1, participate in many international forums and standard-setting bodies including the Financial Stability Board, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, and the International Organisation of Securities Commission.
We should envisage that terrorist financiers will attempt to benefit from anonymous transactions made possible by innovations of new payment products and services such as internet-based payment systems, prepaid cards and virtual currencies. Likewise, fundraising through social media and other online platforms such as “crowdfunding” have increased in prominence, in addition to other more traditional sources of funds such as proceeds of criminal activities, conventional donations, and funding from legitimate purposes. As change is a constant, collation of data points that this environment will continue to persist. Global internet users have increased from 397 million in the year 2000 to nearly 3.9 billion as of June 2017, an impressive growth of almost 1000%. Similarly, global investment activities in the FinTech industry have increased from USD9 billion in 2010 to USD25 billion in 2016. If this trend is anything to go by, the financial industry will be hard pressed to mitigate, identify and prevent cases of abuse in the system. There is no doubt that rapid technological developments have offered immense potential for economic growth. Unfortunately, they have also spawned new ways for terrorist organisations to acquire, move and manage their funds. There are other risks not anticipated before, such as remote radicalisation via the internet that has resulted in an increase in the number of small terrorist cells and “lone wolf actors” that makes detecting and halting terrorism financing even more challenging. In light of this development, the role of financial sector as a bulwark against terrorists financing becomes even more critical.