Monetary Authority of Singapore launches data and information-sharing platform

Cosmic will allow financial institutions to securely share in a timely manner with one another information on customers or transactions, where they cross material risk thresholds.

The Cosmic platform has been co-created by MAS and six commercial banks in Singapore – DBS, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered, Citibank, and HSBC. The six banks will continue to co-develop the platform with MAS and will be the initial users when it is rolled out in 2023 alongside a regulatory framework to govern the information sharing.

MAS plans to progressively extend Cosmic's coverage to more financial institutions and make some aspects of sharing mandatory. Cosmic will initially focus on three key financial crime risks in commercial banking – abuse of shell companies, misuse of trade finance for illicit purposes, and proliferation financing. More focus areas will be added later.

Cosmic, which stands for Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing Information and Cases, will help FIs warn one another about unusual activity in customers' accounts.