AML Singapore: Navigating Compliance Challenges and Innovations with Tookitaki

Introduction: Why AML is a Critical Priority in Singapore

As one of Asia’s foremost financial hubs, Singapore plays a central role in global banking, trade finance, and digital payments. With this status comes responsibility—and one of the most pressing is ensuring a strong Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework.

AML Singapore is not just a regulatory obligation; it is a cornerstone of maintaining institutional trust, national security, and international credibility. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has developed a sophisticated AML regulatory regime to combat financial crime, requiring all financial institutions to stay vigilant, adaptive, and technologically enabled.

In this evolving compliance landscape, Tookitaki has emerged as a trusted RegTech partner for banks and financial institutions, helping them not just meet MAS requirements—but exceed them. This blog explores the AML environment in Singapore, the challenges institutions face, and how Tookitaki is enabling the shift from reactive compliance to proactive, intelligence-led financial crime prevention.

Understanding the AML Landscape in Singapore

Singapore’s AML framework is anchored in global standards and tailored to the country’s role in global finance. Financial institutions are required to comply with:

• The Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (CDSA)

• The Terrorism (Suppression of Financing) Act (TSOFA)

• MAS Notices 626, 824, and 3001, which detail AML/CFT obligations for different classes of institutions

• Guidelines from the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office (STRO)

These laws mandate stringent Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures, continuous transaction monitoring, and the filing of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs).

Singapore’s approach is risk-based and technology-driven, with MAS encouraging financial institutions to innovate while upholding robust governance. The release of the 2024 Money Laundering National Risk Assessment further highlights the evolving threats such as cyber-enabled fraud, misuse of corporate vehicles, and trade-based money laundering.

In short, AML Singapore is an ever-evolving discipline requiring a dynamic response from institutions.

Key Compliance Challenges Facing Financial Institutions in Singapore

Despite a robust framework, financial institutions in Singapore continue to grapple with multiple challenges:

1. High Alert Volumes and False Positives

Traditional rule-based systems often flood compliance teams with irrelevant alerts. Analysts must manually sift through noise to find true suspicious activities, wasting time and resources.

2. Fragmented Data and Siloed Systems

Many institutions run compliance operations across disconnected systems, making it difficult to gain a unified view of customer risk or track suspicious behaviour across products.

3. Cross-Border Complexity

As Singapore banks serve global clients, they face increased exposure to cross-border risks, mule accounts, and layered transactions that evade traditional controls.

4. Slow Scenario Deployment

Institutions struggle to keep up with fast-evolving fraud and AML scenarios. Delays in creating or updating monitoring scenarios can leave blind spots in detection systems.

These challenges demand more than incremental upgrades—they require a rethinking of how compliance is approached and executed.

How Tookitaki Is Transforming AML in Singapore

Tookitaki, a Singapore-headquartered company, offers FinCense, a next-generation compliance platform designed to address the real-world problems faced by compliance teams. FinCense is built to make AML programs more intelligent, accurate, and collaborative.

Key Innovations Powering FinCense:

✅ AI-Powered Detection with Lower False Positives

Tookitaki’s federated machine learning models are trained on real-world scenarios contributed by its AFC Ecosystem—a global community of financial crime experts. These models deliver industry-leading detection accuracy while reducing false positives by a significant margin.

✅ Scenario-Based Monitoring at Scale

Institutions can deploy out-of-the-box risk scenarios or customise their own, aligned to their business needs. In Singapore, scenarios are regularly updated to address risks flagged by MAS and STRO.

✅ Centralised Case Management

FinCense comes with a powerful case manager that allows compliance teams to investigate, collaborate, and resolve alerts in one place. No more toggling between systems or losing context.

✅ Real-Time Alert Response

Through built-in automation and smart dispositioning, alerts can be triaged and responded to in real time, speeding up STR filings and customer response actions.

✅ Local LLM Copilot – FinMate

FinCense integrates FinMate, Tookitaki’s local LLM-based AI copilot that assists analysts by summarising alert details, suggesting next steps, and helping generate investigation narratives.

Together, these innovations are transforming AML Singapore efforts from reactive to resilient.

Case Study: A Singapore-Based Bank Adopts FinCense

A leading Singapore bank recently deployed Tookitaki’s FinCense as its primary fraud prevention system, and the results have been transformative.

What They Implemented:

• 20+ transaction monitoring scenarios across CASA, lending, SME banking, and payments

• A centralised case management system for investigation and reporting

• A fully MAS-compliant risk framework validated by EY

Key Outcomes:

• 100% Risk Coverage Delivered

• ~50% Faster Scenario Onboarding Time

• 2x Decrease in Alerts-to-Transaction Ratio, even with a 4x increase in transaction volumes

• STR-to-Alert Ratio of 25–30%, a 6x improvement over legacy systems

This means that for every 4 alerts generated, an STR is filed—showing improved precision and regulatory relevance.

“System evaluated by EY and the results were accepted by MAS.”

This case demonstrates how FinCense is helping institutions not just stay compliant—but operate smarter and grow faster in Singapore’s high-stakes environment.

The Road Ahead: Future-Proofing AML in Singapore

The future of AML Singapore will depend on the ability of institutions to:

• Detect emerging risks like AI-generated fraud and complex shell structures

• Collaborate across institutions and geographies for intelligence sharing

• Align with evolving MAS expectations around explainable AI and ethical use of technology

• Maintain operational efficiency while handling growing volumes of real-time transactions

Tookitaki is already paving the way here—with a federated learning approach, ongoing community-driven typology updates, and seamless integration across risk systems.

The AFC Ecosystem adds an unmatched layer of collective intelligence, allowing Tookitaki clients to stay one step ahead—without going it alone.

Conclusion: Transforming Compliance into a Competitive Advantage

Singapore has set the global benchmark for AML, and institutions operating here must rise to that challenge. But compliance need not be a burden—it can be a differentiator, a trust signal, and a growth enabler.

With Tookitaki’s FinCense platform, financial institutions in Singapore are:

• Reducing false positives

• Filing more meaningful STRs

• Meeting MAS compliance with confidence

• Equipping their teams with AI-powered tools

• Benefiting from global collaboration through the AFC Ecosystem

If your organisation is navigating the complexities of AML Singapore, now is the time to explore how Tookitaki can help you turn compliance into a catalyst for success.