On 30 December 2020, the Singapore terrorism financing (TF) national risk assessment (NRA) was published. This report is a joint effort by the Risks and Typologies Inter-Agency Group (RTIG), led by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) further enhanced by the involvement of the private sector and academia
Regulatory technology (“regtech”), a subset of financial technology (well known as “fintech”), seeks to achieve better regulatory outcomes through the use of technology. Regtech has been used by financial institutions for decades; for example, WorldCheck, a well-known tool used to screen customers. In recent years, regtech gained increasing traction among financial institutions for the efficiency
COVID 19 has caused significant turbulence in the global markets. Global stock markets have yet to recover and traditional assets are less attractive in the current situation. However, a potential bright spark could be seen in the crowdfunding space. As fall-out from COVID 19 has placed enormous pressure on businesses, numerous reports have been compiled
Inefficiencies of the Blockchain A digital token’s blockchain functions much like the Torrens land titles register system. If the digital token’s blockchain, a register of digital assets (the “Register” or the “Blockchain”), reflects the user’s digital payment tokens (“DPTs”), the user’s ownership is proved. The assets are recorded in addresses (the “Address”) on the Register
External asset managers (“EAMs”) generally provide asset management services to high net worth individuals (“HNWI”) for their segregated accounts on a discretionary basis through a power of attorney, or on an advisory basis. Aside from these core activities, certain EAMs engage in additional activities such as the management of proprietary funds, distribution of funds and
When trying to raise funds for a company, a project, or an investment fund, you may have valuable connections to potential investors, but you will want to look for investors beyond your existing network. Today, you can target specified prospects. Even their situation, interests and goals can be mapped out simply by studying their digital
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As business gradually returns to normal, companies large and small have begun to deal with a host of financial and operational issues that have been adversely impacted during the Circuit Breaker. Importantly, senior management should evaluate the operating effectiveness of the internal control environment by assessing the risk level and materiality of the actual disruptions
Usha Sreedhar is a Manager at Ingenia. She supports multiple financial institutions, including fund management companies, external asset managers and brokers, by managing and carrying out their compliance tasks. In addition, she is performing internal audits.
Through her work with financial institutions across fund management, brokerage, investment banking and at the securities regulator as well as her training in law and as an accountant and corporate secretary, Usha gained a broad view of the financial sector and its various regulatory matters. Drawing on this expertise, she provides financial institutions comprehensive support in their compliance and internal audit.
In her roles with multi-national and boutique financial institutions, Usha gained experience across compliance, risk and audit in fund management and broking. She has led a fund management company’s compliance from licencing throughout regular operations: licence application, establishing of compliance strategy and policies and procedures, customer due diligence, monitoring of investment restrictions, regulatory filings etc.
Daisy is a Compliance Advisory and Solutions Professional with 13 years of experience in the finance industry, specialized in MAS 626, MAS 314, MAS 142, SFA & FAA regulations knowledge. She is comfortable working with various stakeholders and articulating solutions and information to them, and she possesses strong communication and interpersonal skills. Her expertise has been showcased good judgment and able to synthesize information to create solutions that are fit to context.
The experience of having worked in different companies have really helped Daisy to understand different policies and contextualization through her professional experience. She has always empathized with both managements and regulators from all over the world, dealt with both individual and entity profiles at all functional levels, making sure their expectations were met. In Daisy’s work, she was fortunate to attain a great deal of compliance knowledge and compliance experience from some major private banks and wealth management in Singapore with some top-tier billionaire and millionaire profiles in APAC.
Victor Chan is a Director in Ingenia Consultants regulatory risk services. His areas of practice include risk advisory, internal audit, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance.
Victor has extensive experiences in accounting, operations, compliance, and risk management. He advises clients in private banking and asset management industry on regulatory compliance, particularly on regulations in the financial services industry – Securities and Futures Act, Financial Advisers Act, and related notices and guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
His experience in corporate governance includes advising on enterprise-wide compliance and risk management framework, monitoring activities, and Board reporting to enhance overall corporate risk culture.
He also has advised clients in different aspects of the business activities, including establishment of portfolio management system and order management system, including pre and post trade mandates monitoring as well as best execution monitoring.
Experiences
Professional Qualifications: New York State Certified Public Accountant.
Yip Han is a senior associate in Ingenia Consultants. His key areas of practice include regulatory compliance for fund management and payment services.
Yip Han regularly assists in providing regulatory compliance advice to various organisations in the financial space, in particular the Securities and Futures Act, Payment Services Act and related notices and guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
In addition, Yip Han also assisted in providing compliance advice to a pawnbrokers regulated by the Ministry of Law under the Pawnbrokers Act and Precious Stones and Precious Metals (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) Act (PSPM Act).
Through advising regulatory aspects of securities regulations and other related regulatory and compliance matters, Yip Han has assisted in licensing and due diligence requirements for fund managers, by establishing and remediating of its risk management controls.
In conjunction to regulatory compliance advisory, Yip Han is responsible for conducting internal audits for financial institutions and engaging appropriate remediations of identified issues through follow- ups to ensure auditees meets its financial, operational and compliance objectives.
You can contact and reach Yip Han at: mailto:yiphan.kew@ingenia-consultants.com
Aaron Chua is an ad locum consultant with Ingenia Consultants. His key areas of practices in regulatory compliance include risk management, securities laws, fund management, financial advisory and payment services.
Aaron Chua has extensive experience in compliance issues and regularly provides regulatory advice to advice to various organisations in the private sectors. He advises clients on regulatory compliance, particularly on regulations in the financial industry – Securities and Futures Act, Financial Advisers Act, Banking Act, and related requirements and guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Through his work, Aaron is actively responsible for the licensing of fund managers and payment service providers.
He advises financial services clients and is an expert on regulatory compliance, particularly on regulations in the financial industry such as the Securities and Futures Act, Payment Services Act, regulatory notices, and guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Aaron has as a panellist in numerous events discussed on stable coins & security tokens with the collaboration of Merkle Science and Blockchain Hub. He has also contributed written articles with fintech solutions, on how digital payment token service providers can adhere to the guidelines on money laundering and counter the financing of terrorism.
You can contact and reach Aaron at : aaron.chua@ingenia-consultants.com
Selina Loh is the office manager with Ingenia Consultants. Her key areas of administrative responsibilities include Office Management, Human Resources and Accounting. Selina assists in the implementation of firm policies and procedures; manages and oversees the administration of HR policies, programs and practices within the firm; she maintains accounts payable, receivables and monthly billing. She is responsible for the overall coordination and oversees the day to day smooth running that allows the firm to operate efficiently.
With her extensive past work experiences in strong performance and high-pressure environment, Selina skillfully handles exceptional administrative duties in an efficient and timely manner. In her position she has never failed to deliver in her operating environment.
Previously a commodity trader for more than a decade with a local commodity broking firm, Selina did a career switch to the administrative managerial role 5 years ago. Prior to the trading job, she has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry in areas of Private Banking and Asset Management services in foreign banks servicing high net-worth clients.
You can contact and reach Selina at : selina.loh@ingenia-consultants.com
Fadzlun is an experienced senior front and middle office professional with more than 14 years’ experience in the financial industry. With an exceptional track record in leading change and innovation in business controls and requirements by both foreign and local regulators, such as FACTA, CRS, PDPA and AML notices.
Fadzlun has extensive experience in regulatory compliance. He has assisted external asset managers, fund managers and crowdfunding service providers in their licensing. He has established compliance frameworks for these new financial institutions and enhanced frameworks of existing financial institutions to accommodate regulatory developments and changes in their business. He has drafted policies and procedures and created controls across regulatory topics such as corporate governance, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, marketing and distribution, conduct, assessment of outsourced service providers, and the confirmation of accredited investors. In parallel, he is advising financial institutions on the regulatory requirements for their business and changes therein by assisting them in answering regulatory inquiries as well as the creation and implementation of suitable processes.
Fadzlun has experience in implementing digital solutions to compliance processes. He interacts frequently with RegTech providers to evaluate and enhance processes to achieve scale and simplify compliance tasks. He has experience with robotic process automation to automate simple compliance surveillance and processes to elevate compliance officers to higher level tasks.
Lakshman Kumar is a Director in Ingenia Consultants Risk and Regulatory Practice. He provides advice to the clients in fund and asset management and financial services on regulation, licensing and conduct of business and operational risk management.
His experience includes advising the clients seeking the approval/registration from the Monetary Authority of Singapore(MAS) for setting up of the Registered and Licensed Fund Management Companies, financial services firms seeking to engage in providing other capital market services, and advising clients on implementation of processes and controls for cost effective and business focused risk management. He has also assisted and helped clients to introduce and embed good corporate governance structures and practices in line with MAS guidelines and global best practice.
In addition, Lakshman leads a team of professionals in conducting the internal audits of the clients where such activity is outsourced to Ingenia. His expertise lies in suggesting/recommending to the client’s risk management controls that are aligned to the size and complexity of business and not overly burdensome to implement.
Lakshman’s experience encompasses assisting/helping the clients, by closely working with them, to prepare them for regulatory reviews and inspections, responding to the regulatory inspection findings and implementing processes and controls consequent to such regulatory reviews.
From 2001 and prior to April 2016, Lakshman held the following Executive Management roles:
Lakshman joined Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company, India in April 1998 as a member of initial senior management team and held the role of Senior Vice President, Finance, Compliance and Company Secretary till September 2001.
Lakshman also held the roles as Senior Vice President- Finance and Compliance- GIC Asset Management, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer and Company Secretary of DSP Merrill Lynch Asset Management and Assistant General Manager in Reserve Bank of India/National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
Sharica Tan is an associate in Ingenia Consultants. Her main areas of practice are in internal audit.
Sharica through her exposure to internal audits on the business activities of fund management companies and crowd funding platforms is well versed with the functions of customer onboarding, enterprise wide risk management and transactions monitoring.
She is a strong addition to the team and is responsible the field work in internal audits. She contributes through the audit planning and identifies the key areas of controls that need to be benchmarked.
Through her previous related work experiences in customer servicing, Sharica is a proficient accounts manager who constantly strives to meet the satisfaction of her clients.
In her outsourced compliance functions, she is responsible for performing customer due diligence screenings and customer profile monitoring.
Rolf Haudenschild is the co-founder of Ingenia. In addition to managing Ingenia, Rolf supports financial institutions in wealth management, fund management, and fintech in obtaining their licence, assists in challenging compliance tasks and supervises internal audits.
Rolf is recognised for his expertise and practical support in compliance with regulatory requirements under the Securities and Futures Act, the Financial Advisers Act and the Payments Services Act. Drawing on his experience in legal and compliance with leading global and Asian private banks and a regulator, Rolf is keenly aware of regulatory risks and provides robust regulatory solutions. At the same time, Rolf’s own entrepreneurship ensures that solutions are practical, namely for smaller financial institutions, while his affinity for fintech and regtech keeps efficient and effective, cutting-edge solutions in view.
Rolf has extensive experience in regulatory compliance. He has assisted external asset managers, fund managers and payment service providers in their licensing. He has established compliance frameworks for these new financial institutions and enhanced frameworks of existing financial institutions to accommodate regulatory developments and changes in their business. He has drafted policies and procedures and created controls across regulatory topics such as corporate governance, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, marketing and distribution, conduct, assessment of outsourced service providers, and the confirmation of accredited investors. In parallel, he is advising financial institutions on the regulatory requirements for their business and changes therein by assisting them in answering regulatory inquiries as well as the creation and implementation of suitable processes.
Rolf is a regular speaker on regulatory topics, in the Hubbis Compliance in Asian Wealth Management Forum, with the Association of Independent Asset Managers and has provided trainings in compliance for financial institutions, at the Singapore Politech, the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich and the University of Liechtenstein as well as on regtech with the Singapore FinTech Association.
Cheryl Hay is an associate in Ingenia Consultants. Her key areas of practice include regulatory compliance for fund management, financial advisory and payment services.
Cheryl regularly assist in providing regulatory compliance advices to various organisations in the financial space, which particularly includes Securities and Futures Act, Financial Advisers Act, Payment Services and related requirements and guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Through advising regulatory aspects of securities regulations and other related regulatory and compliance matters, Cheryl has assisted in licensing and due diligence requirements for fund managers, by establishing and remediating of its risk management controls.
In conjunction to regulatory compliance advisory, Cheryl is actively involved in conducting internal audit for financial institutions and engaging appropriate remediations of identified issues through follow- up to ensure the company meets its financial, operational and compliance objectives.
You can contact and reach Cheryl at: mailto:cheryl.hay@ingenia-consultants.com
Jonathan Cheong is an ad locum Consultant with Ingenia Consultants. His key areas of practices in regulatory compliance include risk management, securities laws, fund management, financial advisory, payment services, money lending and corporate governance.
Jonathan has extensive experience in compliance issues and regularly provides regulatory advice to various multi-family offices, external asset managers and securities brokers. Through his work he was actively responsible for the successful licensing of fund managers and securities dealers.
He advises financial services clients and is an expert on regulatory compliance, particularly on regulations in the financial industry such as the Securities and Futures Act, Financial Advisers Act, Moneylenders Act, related requirements, regulatory notices, and guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Jonathan is general counsel to a registered fund management company and a leading global digital currency exchange. Jonathan is also a family office trustee for a Hong Kong family office. Through his interactions with the high net worth individuals and financial industry clients, he has structured funds, financial products and built a reputation for engineering business solutions for financial businesses.
You can contact and reach Jonathan at : jonathan.cheong@ingenia-consultants.com
Justin has 34 years of experience in investing across wide range of assets, initially broking Asia from London, followed by management roles in Hong Kong and Singapore. Justin set up a hedge fund in 2003, and for the last few years, he has been advising CMS-licensed wealth managers and implementing the firm’s investment portfolio strategies. Justin has a B.Sc. in Economics & Economic History from Bristol University and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Certified Accountants.
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