The beginning of the new year – especially when it coincides with your company’s financial year – is always full of regulatory submissions:

  • A/I LFMC
    • Quarterly filing (Form 1, Form 2, QIE form) by 14 January 2023
    • Nil misconduct report by 14 January 2023 (unless you reported any misconduct in 2022)
  • RFMC
    • Annual declaration (Form 25A) by 31 January 2023 if your financial year ends on 31 December

This year, the MAS added an additional complication. As explained in its Circular No. CMI 28/2022, issued on 15 December 2022, the MAS will launch its new Financial Institutions Transactions Platform on 11 January 2023. Over the next two years, submissions to MAS will increasingly take place on this platform instead of MASNet or through other systems. The new platform should facilitate your interactions with MAS, provide you with a list of your upcoming regular submissions, and serve as a repository for your submissions to MAS. (Please read the whole circular for a more comprehensive understanding of the new platform and its roll-out.) Because only your submissions made through the platform will be recorded there, you should start using the platform sooner rather than later. However, the MAS advises that you should log in to the platform at least two weeks before your first submission to explore, check its functionality and allow time to remediate any access issues. Therefore, an A/I LFMC will not have sufficient time to check the platform before its quarterly submission. MAS also advises that the nil return of misconduct report should be filed via the existing Misconduct Reporting System. We, therefore, advise A/I LFMCs to use the old tools (MASNet) for the quarterly filing and the nil misconduct report. In contrast, RFMCs should consider logging in to the platform as soon as possible after 11 January 2023 and submitting Form 25A through this new platform.

In addition to the above submissions, many financial institutions reconfirm the fit and proper status of their personnel at the beginning of the year, particularly of directors, senior management, representatives and material risk personnel.