THE Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has appointed T. Raja Kumar as its next president during its recent plenary, marking the first time Singapore is taking on the FATF presidency.

Raja - who is senior advisor (international) at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and the current head of Singapore's delegation to the FATF - will assume the appointment as FATF president on Jul 1, 2022 for a fixed 2-year term, taking over from Marcus Pleyer.

The FATF is the global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog, and is an inter-governmental body established by G7 in 1989 to set international standards to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing. Singapore has been a member of the FATF since 1992

In a joint statement on Monday (Mar 7), MHA, the Ministry of Finance and Monetary Authority of Singapore noted that Raja has been active in leading Singapore's efforts against money laundering and terrorism financing.

He has served as co-chairman of the National Interagency Committee on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) since January 2015 and driven Singapore's efforts to meet FATF Standards. He has also been a member of the steering group that provides advice to the FATF President, since July 2018.

His experience in policy, regulation and law enforcement include roles as deputy secretary (international and training) at MHA, deputy commissioner (policy) of the Singapore Police Force, and chief executive of the Casino Regulatory Authority.

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"Singapore strongly supports the outstanding work of the FATF in establishing and implementing global standards to combat money laundering and terrorism financing," said Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, in a statement.

"I look forward to Raja, as President, bringing together law enforcement authorities, financial sector and other AML/CFT supervisors, as well as private sector stakeholders to achieve effective outcomes. Raja's experience and leadership will enable him to effectively lead the FATF's mission in the years ahead."