The Rise and Pitfalls of Digital Finance (in Singapore)

Regulatory Ramblings

Ep 28 with Sinyee Koh, Director of Compliance & Regulatory Consulting at Integrity Consulting in Singapore
A Singaporean to her core, Sinyee also called Hong Kong home for a time. As an admitted solicitor and advocate in the Lion City, she is also a licensed solicitor in Hong Kong and a solicitor-advocate in England and Wales. She is also admitted to practice in the US state of New York. Beyond having practiced law, Sinyee has also worked at multiple consulting firms such as Kroll and Duff & Phelps, and for a time was a regulator – having served as a deputy director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
She chats with Regulatory Ramblings’ host Ajay Shamdasani about her background and upbringing, why she chose law as a career path, how she transitioned into a career in compliance and consulting, as well as her time as a regulator at the MAS.
However, the meat of their discussion centres on the fact that with digital finance growing, so too has the use of digital identity verification, with some governments moving in the direction of rolling out national digital identity. Retail customer scams in digital finance, including those compromising national digital identities, are also increasing in both Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere. There have been a few policy responses in the Lion City, including changing money laundering laws to make it easier to prosecute those who sell their national digital identity credentials. A key policy challenge being deliberated on, however, is in deciding who should bear the loss in digital finance scams – financial institutions, customers or other parties: especially if none of them were at fault.

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