SINGAPORE: A global financial watchdog has given Singapore the highest rating for its anti-money laundering framework, though it also flagged shortcomings in the country's penalties and cross-border cooperation.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its Mutual Evaluation of Singapore on Wednesday (May 6), a periodic review covering the period from 2020 to July last year. 

It cited the high-profile S$3 billion (US$2.36 billion) money laundering case in 2023 as "the clearest manifestation of Singapore's ongoing and active implementation of incremental and unique measures to take on those attempting to misuse Singapore's financial system".

The FATF said it showed Singapore's attractiveness to criminals, but also the quality of its law enforcement and political commitment to tackling financial crime.

The case, in which foreign nationals brought in billions derived from overseas remote gambling offences, represented one of the world's largest crackdowns on money laundering that year. 

Stemming from the case, an inter-ministerial committee was set up to review and improve Singapore's approach to countering money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing. It has since introduced new measures, including legislative amendments and new information and data-sharing mechanisms.

Singapore's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime, and its policy and operational cooperation, are "likely some of the best in the world", the FATF said.