General in Singapore

Key dates

2026-10-14

MAS published its October 2026 Monetary Policy Statement and maintained the rate of appreciation, width, and centre of the S$NEER policy band.

2027-06-01

MAS expects core inflation to begin easing more discernibly from around the middle of 2027; this is an economic forecast, not a compliance deadline.

Suggested considerations

• Compliance and risk teams should record the statement as a macroeconomic policy development rather than a new regulatory obligation.
• Treasury, asset-liability management, investment-risk, and enterprise-risk functions should consider reviewing assumptions for SGD exchange rates, imported energy and food costs, interest rates, and liquidity under the stated upside-inflation and downside-growth scenarios.
• Firms with material foreign-currency exposures should consider reassessing hedging, stress-testing, valuation, and client-portfolio assumptions in light of the continued appreciating S$NEER policy band.
• Banks and other firms using 2026 or 2027 financial-crime, conduct, credit, capital, or liquidity scenarios may wish to document whether the revised inflation outlook and expected moderation of AI-related growth affect those scenarios.
• Compliance teams should monitor subsequent MAS statements and applicable supervisory communications because MAS expressly stated that it remains prepared to respond to risks to medium-term price stability.

What changed

No new binding compliance requirement, prudential rule, reporting obligation, or conduct standard was introduced. MAS retained the appreciating S$NEER policy band and left its slope, width, and centre unchanged. MAS reported that Singapore GDP grew 5.4% year-on-year in Q3 2026 and revised its 2026 MAS Core Inflation forecast to 1.5–2.0%, with CPI-All Items inflation around 2.0%; for 2027, both measures are projected at 1.5–2.5%.

Key dates

2026-10-07

MAS published the written parliamentary reply and stated that approximately 4,000 households could face cash shortfalls under the severe stress scenario.

Suggested considerations

• Compliance and consumer-credit teams may wish to confirm that mortgage portfolios have documented processes for identifying deteriorating repayment performance and other early indicators of financial stress.
• Banks should consider reviewing whether frontline and collections staff consistently contact borrowers early, assess individual circumstances, and record the rationale for any restructuring, refinancing, forbearance, or other assistance offered.
• Mortgage lenders may wish to test whether vulnerable segments identified by the MAS stress test, including lower-income middle-aged HDB borrowers and borrowers with sizeable private-housing loan balances, are adequately represented in portfolio monitoring and scenario analysis.
• Firms should consider maintaining clear customer communications directing borrowers who anticipate repayment difficulty to contact the lender before arrears arise.
• Banks and relevant agencies may wish to review referral arrangements with HDB, Credit Counselling Singapore, and appropriate social-service agencies, including escalation and hand-off procedures.
• Risk committees may wish to retain evidence that severe interest-rate, income-reduction, unemployment, and liquidity-buffer scenarios are considered in mortgage portfolio risk management, while distinguishing scenario-based vulnerabilities from actual current borrower distress.
• Firms should avoid describing the approximately 4,000-household figure as a forecast of current arrears or as an individually identified list of affected customers.

What changed

No binding regulatory requirement, threshold, reporting obligation, or enforcement measure was introduced by this parliamentary reply. MAS confirmed that financial institutions monitor repayment performance and engage borrowers showing signs of financial stress, with assistance tailored to individual circumstances. HDB-financed borrowers may approach HDB for restructuring discussions, bank-financed borrowers may approach their banks, and borrowers already experiencing debt repayment difficulties may seek counselling and debt-management guidance from Credit Counselling Singapore.

Key dates

2026-05-13

MAS published its consultation on proposed TLAC requirements for Singapore DSIBs and draft amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022.

2026-06-04

The published consultation materials stated the proposed external TLAC level of 14% of risk-weighted assets for local-bank DSIBs; the consultation period ran through June 2026.

2026-09-08

The Financial Services and Markets (Amendment) Bill 2026 was introduced for first reading in Parliament.

2026-10-06

Second reading speech delivered by Alvin Tan on behalf of the Minister-in-charge of MAS.

Suggested considerations

• DSIBs should consider mapping existing capital, subordinated debt, eligible senior unsecured debt and other potentially qualifying resources against the proposed TLAC eligibility criteria, without assuming that consultation proposals are final.
• DSIBs should consider modelling the potential impact of the consulted 14% of risk-weighted assets external-TLAC level, including the proposed exclusion of capital conservation buffer CET1 from double-counting and any applicable leverage or internal-TLAC requirements.
• DSIBs should consider reviewing funding, issuance and investor-distribution strategies because instruments issued to Singapore retail investors may not qualify as TLAC under the consulted framework.
• DSIBs should consider preparing systems and governance for TLAC reporting, public disclosure, data ownership, instrument eligibility attestations and eventual implementation-period tracking.
• All MAS-supervised financial institutions should consider refreshing proliferation-financing risk assessments, customer and transaction-screening controls, escalation procedures and management information so that controls clearly address proliferation-financing risks separately from money laundering and terrorism financing.
• Compliance teams should consider reviewing information-sharing and supervisory-cooperation procedures for requests involving proliferation-financing supervision by MAS, Singapore authorities or foreign counterpart authorities.
• Legal and regulatory teams should monitor Parliament's passage of the Bill, subsidiary legislation, MAS notices or regulations, and the Gazette commencement notification before treating the proposed obligations as legally effective.

What changed

The Bill would insert a new Division 3 in Part 7 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022, empowering MAS to require notified Division 6 financial institutions, including Singapore DSIBs, to maintain a minimum level of TLAC. The framework is expected to address the required TLAC level, eligible instruments and other financial resources, public disclosures, reporting and implementation timing.

Key dates

2026-08-19

MAS published the announcement of the proposed tax exemption, Hedge Fund Investment Programme and Investment Management Track.

2027-01-01

The proposed tax exemption is expected to apply from Year of Assessment 2027; the precise income-period mechanics and legislative commencement remain to be confirmed.

Suggested considerations

• Firms should inventory existing carried-interest, performance-fee, incentive-allocation and other profit-participation arrangements and identify whether returns are received directly or indirectly for fund-management services.
• Tax and legal teams may wish to map each relevant fund against Sections 13D, 13O, 13OA, 13U and 13V of the Income Tax Act 1947 and retain evidence of Singapore-based management and applicable economic-substance conditions.
• Firms should avoid treating the announcement as an immediately available exemption and should monitor Budget 2027 and subsequent legislation or administrative guidance for the effective scope, rate, thresholds, attribution rules and documentation requirements.
• Compliance teams may wish to review fund, management-company, partnership and individual remuneration agreements so that the commercial basis for any profit-related return is clearly documented and distinguishable from ordinary salary or bonus remuneration.
• Asset managers considering Singapore expansion should assess whether participation in the Hedge Fund Investment Programme or the proposed Investment Management Track could support their business and talent strategy, while awaiting eligibility and application details.
• Immigration and HR teams may wish to identify senior investment professionals whose compensation is materially linked to investment performance and assess the potential implications once revised ONE Pass criteria are published.
• Firms should continue applying existing tax, licensing, employment, payroll, conduct, books-and-records and anti-avoidance requirements; this announcement does not displace those obligations.

What changed

MAS and the Ministry of Finance plan to introduce a tax exemption from Year of Assessment 2027 for qualifying profit-related returns arising from fund-management services. The exemption is intended to cover a contractual share of profits of funds qualifying under Sections 13D, 13O, 13OA, 13U or 13V of the Income Tax Act 1947, where the funds are managed by Singapore-based fund managers and the returns are received directly or indirectly by corporate entities, partnerships or individuals for providing fund-management services.