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Getty Images Singapore has blocked 3% out of 1,300 applications filed in the past three years to set up tax-exempt wealth management vehicles for rich families, an official said on Wednesday, responding to questions about family offices involved in criminal activity.Chee Hong Tat, national development minister and deputy chair of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, also told parliament that the central bank has already clawed back the tax incentives given to two family offices linked to Prince Group, a multinational network accused of running vast scam centres.Family offices are one-stop firms that manage the investments, taxation, wealth transfer and other financial matters of the super-rich.Prince Group is tied to Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi and was sanctioned by Britain and the United States in October for running scam centres using trafficked workers to defraud victims around the world.Singapore police seized over S$150 million ($115.90 million) in assets tied to the group, including six properties, bank accounts, securities accounts and cash, police said last week.Live EventsSingapore has benefited from strong inflows of wealth due to policies favourable to family offices and trusts, low taxes and its location as a gateway to the growing Southeast Asian markets.Some of the inflows have been linked to crime, including a S$3 billion money laundering ring in 2023, the largest ever in the city-state, with the tax incentives of six single family offices revoked because their links to the case.Chee said that family offices linked to money laundering offences "represent a very small proportion of the overall sector, at less than 1%".The number of family offices almost tripled to more than 2,000 at the end of 2024 from 700 in 2021, government data showed.Singapore has tightened scrutiny of the financial sector following the 2023 money laundering scandal with lenders spending more time on due diligence checks and even closing the accounts of some clients. Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) Read More News onSingapore family office applicationscriminal activity family officesSingapore tax incentives family officesPrince Group scamsmoney laundering SingaporeSoutheast Asia wealth managementMonetary Authority of Singaporewealth transfer and taxation SingaporeChee Hong Tat family offices (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)Read More News onSingapore family office applicationscriminal activity family officesSingapore tax incentives family officesPrince Group scamsmoney laundering SingaporeSoutheast Asia wealth managementMonetary Authority of Singaporewealth transfer and taxation SingaporeChee Hong Tat family offices(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless
