Precious Stones and Precious Metals (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

New Precious Stones and Precious Metals (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 were published on Singapore Statutes Online, the official platform of Singapore for the publication of legal documents. The regulations modify the Precious Stones and Precious Metals (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) Regulations 2019 which impose certain obligations on businesses dealing with precious stones and metals and tokenized assets, including requirements related to customer due diligence, record-keeping, reporting of suspicious transactions, and internal controls, to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Specifically, the 2019 regulations are modified to
– introduce the definition of „net price“ related to the sale of precious stones, metals, products, or asset-backed tokens by regulated dealers;
– clarify what constitutes a „cash equivalent“ for the purpose of transactions under the Precious Stones and Precious Metals (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) Act 2019, including various payment instruments and negotiable instruments;
– clarify the expectations of customer due diligence by regulated dealers for transactions involving entities, „legal arrangements“, or persons, including the identification of beneficial owners, the verification of identities, understanding the business nature of the client – if applicable, and its ownership structures;
– define the prescribed manner for submitting records to the Registrar and expand reporting requirements for changes in contact details of registered dealers‘ key personnel;
– mandate regulated dealers with branches or subsidiaries to implement a group policy for preventing money laundering and terrorism financing across all entities.
– define reporting obligations for regulated dealers in case of transactions involving persons notified by the Registrar, and mandates reporting to both the police and the Registrar; and
– clarify exceptions to notification requirements in cases of winding up or dissolution of registered dealers, cancellation of registration, or the expiration of registration.