The Monetary Authority today launched a public consultation on its proposal to allow authorised institutions to share information on customer accounts to prevent and detect financial crime.

The proposal includes legislative amendments that would provide legal protections to such institutions and offer safeguards to protect data privacy and customer confidentiality, as is the case in other international financial centres.

Monetary Authority Chief Executive Eddie Yue pointed out that fraud and financial crime have surged globally, with criminals increasingly looking to exploit information gaps between banks and abuse financial systems to move and hide illicit funds.

He stressed that effective information sharing will help the banking sector, supervisors and law enforcement agencies turn the tables on fraud and financial crime, while also protecting consumers of financial services.

Interested parties from the banking sector and members of the public can submit their comments by email or post on or before March 29.