Singapore Working With Banks to Provide Guidance on Crypto Businesses: Bloomberg

Singapore's central bank and police authorities have been helping banks to set uniform standards for fine-tuning their vetting approach when opening crypto accounts, according to a Bloomberg report, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The project has been ongoing for about six months, the Bloomberg story said. A separate industry report expected to outline best practices in areas like due diligence and risk management, could be published in the next two months, the sources told Bloomberg. The report that focuses on firms that provide payment services would cover stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFT) and gaming credits.

“There are no rules prohibiting banks operating in Singapore from doing business with crypto/DPT players. As with any other current or prospective customer, banks are required to conduct customer due diligence measures to understand and manage the risk(s) posed by them," a spokesperson for the Monetary Authority of Singapore said.

The MAS told Bloomberg there are no rules stopping banks operating in the country from doing business with firms handling cryptocurrencies or other forms of digital assets. According to the sources cited by Bloomberg, "even with such guidelines, the banks will decide whether to accept these clients based on their risk appetites."

In the past few week, U.S. authorities have been cracking down on banks that served crypto customers to cut the cryptocurrency industry off from banking services. The collapse of crypto-friendly banks Signature Bank (SBNY), Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), and Silvergate Bank (SI) has forced crypto companies to scramble to find banking partners and jurisdictions to conduct businesses. In the past, similar "shadow ban" steps have been taken by other jurisdictions, such as India.

Read More: What You Need to Know About Crypto Regulation in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan

UPDATE (April 6, 2023, 10:40 UTC): Adds comment from MAS in third paragraph.