Monetary Authority of Singapore Issues New Regulations or Stricter Supervision on Encryption Institutions

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a new notice called "MAS Notice FSM-N01" on May 31, 2023, which aims to impose stricter regulations on the business conduct of financial advisory service providers. The new regulation affects all firms providing financial advisory services in Singapore, including those offering cryptocurrency advisory services.

The new regulations detail the rules of conduct that providers of financial advice services are expected to abide by. These rules include how to handle and resolve customer complaints, how to handle customers' personal information, and how to provide customers with appropriate financial advisory services. If companies breach these regulations, they may be penalized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

You may face several possible penalties:

**1. Fines: **MAS may impose fines on companies that violate the regulations. The amount of the fine will usually be determined based on the severity of the violation and the size of the company.

**2. Revocation or Suspension of License: **If the company's violations are very serious, MAS may suspend or revoke their license, which will prevent them from continuing to provide financial advisory services in Singapore.

3. Warning or reprimand: For minor violations, MAS may issue a warning or reprimand to require companies to correct their behavior.

**4. Legal action: **In some cases, MAS may take the violating company or individual to court.

Industry Impact

For the cryptocurrency industry, first and foremost, cryptocurrency companies need to conduct more rigorous customer due diligence, including identifying and reporting "high-risk customers" they serve, such as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and their close associates . This may increase their compliance costs, but it can also help them better understand their customer base so that they can take appropriate risk control measures.

Second, the new regulations emphasize how financial advisory service providers should handle customer complaints and protect customers' personal information. This may improve protection for cryptocurrency investors, but it may also present some challenges for companies dealing with customer privacy.

Overall, this new MAS regulation brings new challenges to the cryptocurrency industry, but also offers new opportunities. Companies need to adapt to these new regulations to ensure their businesses can operate in a more transparent and fair environment.