Registrar of Regulated Dealers issues notice relating to call for action in accordance with February 2024 FATF statement

27 March 2024

On 1 March 2024, the Registrar of Regulated Dealers published a notice (“Notice”) informing all regulated dealers that the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) has issued statements dated 23 February 2024 on:

• counter-measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK”) and Iran;

• enhanced due diligence measures against Myanmar; and

• the List of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring.

Accordingly, under regulation 7(1) of the Precious Stones and Precious Metals (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) Regulations 2019, regulated dealers must perform enhanced customer due diligence (“ECDD”) measures if:

• the customer, or the person on whose behalf the customer is acting on, is from or in DPRK, Iran, Myanmar, or a foreign country or territory identified to have inadequate measures to prevent money laundering or terrorism financing; or

• the transaction relates to DPRK, Iran, Myanmar, or a foreign country or territory identified to have inadequate measures to prevent money laundering or terrorism financing.

The Notice also states that regulated dealers are also expected to take the List of Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring into consideration when preparing and updating their risk assessment and mitigation plans and perform ECDD measures, when necessary. The latest list removed Barbados, Gibraltar, Uganda, and the UAE, and included Kenya and Namibia.

Reference materials

The Notice is available on the Ministry of Law website www.mlaw.gov.sg.