Things to Know About NRA

Have you ever wondered what NRA (National Risk Assessment) found out? This is your time be aware of the things around you. You should know that according to the initial NRA report particularly in TF (Terrorist Financing) and ML (Money Laundering), Singapore faces a threat of attracting illegal money because of the economy’s openness.

On October 21, 2013, the government launched NRA. This is a TF and ML audit that seeks to measure the threats of the said activities in DNFBPs (Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions) and other financial sectors. The NRA is in accordance with FATF (Financial Action Task Force). FATF expects countries to identify and evaluate TF and ML threats. It also asks the countries to keep their assessments up to date.

If you want to know more about the NRA and its findings, you should consider the following things:

Background

Singapore is an international financial hub. The investors need to know that their investments are safe and they also need to know that Singapore can be trusted. Due to the commitment of the republic to its investors and the people around, there are actions undertaken to detect and put off illegal funds from entering and leaving the country. There have been on-going efforts and measures to detect and put off TF and ML. But this may not be enough since there are sectors that remain vulnerable.

Steering Committee

The government placed a Steering Committee to focus on TF and ML. The committee is comprised of HMA (Ministry of Home Affairs), MOF (Ministry of Finance) and MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore). These agencies will engage important stakeholders to find the threats and discover ways to alleviate it.

Findings

According to NRA, from 2009-2011 there were seventy ML convictions. The convictions are in accordance with the Corruption Drug Trafficking & Other Serious Crimes Act. In 2011, there were seven convictions in accordance with the Moneylenders Act. The NRA report also noted that TF and ML arise specifically when debt settlement is made by utilizing illegal funds or pawning stolen goods.

Recommendations

FATF set out basic standards that countries can use to prevent and address TF and ML. Some of the recommendations include (1) setting out preventive measures to engage businesses, professions and financial institutions, (2) ensuring transparency with regards to ownership of persons (3) establishing capable authorities (4) arranging cooperation to other countries and many more.

It is good if you become aware of the things that are happening around you. You will say that you have nothing to do with that but you need to care because you may not feel its threat or effects directly but other people you know may be put in danger.