Indranee refutes a ‘poorly substantiated’ Financial Times article claiming the Singapore government is holding ‘unusual’ briefings for international banks

SINGAPORE – Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah on Tuesday (May 7) refuted a Financial Times (FT) report that had characterized government meetings with major international banks as “unusual”.

The April 20 article, titled “Singapore offers high-level briefings to reassure foreign banks on stability,” said the government had given international banks an “unusual series of high-level briefings on geopolitics.” .

The purpose of this, the article said, was to assure banks that Singapore “can remain stable and neutral at a time of rising tension between China and the West”.

In a written parliamentary response to MP Louis Chua (WP-Sengkang), who had asked Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about the objectives and key messages of such briefings, Ms Indranee took issue with the way the Financial Times framed these meetings.

“It is surprising that a story so poorly sourced, searching in vain for a point, can appear in a major newspaper like the Financial Times, especially after having cleared things up with the journalist several times, including telling her that the briefings were not unusual,” said Ms. Indranee on behalf of the Prime Minister.

The article was written by Mercedes Ruehl, Singapore and Southeast Asia correspondent for the Financial Times. According to her LinkedIn profile, she has been in Singapore since 2020.

Ms Indranee added: “As for the suggestion that the Government was somehow conducting these briefings under the radar, the Financial Times did not report what we told its reporter: that almost all of the briefings it mentioned “His article had already been published by the ministers on their own social media accounts.”

According to the Financial Times article, which cites sources with knowledge of the talks, Chief Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean led several of these meetings.

According to the FT, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam also participated in these meetings.

Citigroup and Standard Chartered were mentioned in the article as some of the US and European financial institutions that participated in the briefings. Local banks were also involved, the FT said.

In her written response, Indranee said ministers and officials have been holding such briefings for “decades.” The parties involved in such meetings include not only financial institutions – international and local – but also groups such as businesses, non-governmental organizations, trade unionists and students.

“In short, we will collaborate as widely as possible,” said Ms. Indranee.

CNA has contacted the FT for comment.

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING EFFORTS

Chua also submitted a question to the Prime Minister on plans to tighten anti-money laundering rules in the wake of a multi-million dollar case, Singapore’s largest.

Ten people have been charged and five of them sentenced, with prison sentences ranging between 13 and 15 months.

Indranee said an inter-ministerial committee intends to provide an update on its findings in “the coming months.”

The formation of this committee was announced in October 2023. It is chaired by Ms. Indranee, who is also the Second Minister of Finance.

The committee is made up of political officials from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and four ministries: Home Affairs, Law, Manpower and Trade and Industry. CNA