The central bank and major lenders of the city-state of Singapore are members of the private banking industry group, which has denied any attempt to stifle discussion of where wealth is coming from in the Southeast Asian country.
“The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has not issued any directive to banks – tacit or otherwise – to avoid discussing the origins of wealth inflows into Singapore,” the group said on Friday, referring to an earlier in the Financial Times.
At a meeting on February 20, MAS reportedly requested the top banks in the city “to avoid discussing the origins of the significant sums of money flowing into the city over the past year.” According to the story, which cited three unidentified persons with knowledge of the conversation, that was perceived as a move directed at the “politically sensitive” topic of Chinese financing.
The FT claims that although MAS didn’t specifically mention China by name, the remarks were taken to make reference to it.
In its statement Friday evening, the banking group said that, at the Feb. 20 meeting, “the PBIG noted that while public commentary tended to focus on fund flows from China into Singapore, the sources of overall inflows into Singapore in fact remain diversified. The increased fund flows into Singapore were from high net-worth individuals from different markets.”
The MAS and banks with operations in Singapore are represented in the Private Banking Industry Group. Officials from Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, DBS Group Holdings, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are also represented on the committee, which is now co-chaired by MAS and UBS Group AG.
