Singapore: Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shows a very high level of compliancewith the Basel Core Principles and demonstrates a strong commitment by MAS to theirimplementation. MAS' current institutional reliability and its commitment to a prudent and sounddomestic financial system have contributed to the strong economic development of Singapore andits role as one of the leading financial centers in the world. MAS has built a strong and experiencedsupervisory staff that has put in place an effective supervisory and regulatory framework thatincludes active and constructive engagement with the management and boards of financialinstitutions under MAS supervision. To a large degree, this is a consequence of the strong support ofthe current Singaporean government for an effective and well-resourced MAS. That said, a highdegree of compliance with the core principles is not a guarantee (nor should it be) against the failureof banks. Banking supervision is intended to minimize the likelihood of bank failures, and to dealswiftly and effectively with troubled institutions to minimize the cost of any failures and to preservefinancial stability.