Thursday, January 6, 2011

NPO Research & Singapore Visits

Day Four

As part of our collaborative research with ICPVTR, we were introduced to two very important entities in Singapore: The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS - a non-profit organization) and the Charity Commission of Singapore. In the morning, we met with two officers from ABS - the Managing Director, Mrs Ong-Ai Boon; Ms Diana Chong(Executive Officer) and Ms Jane Foo, Head of Compliance from ANZ Bank. We learned how ABS plays a very strategic role in creating awareness to all member banks about the importance of paying attention to preventive measures related to anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). Beside seminar and workshops, ABS works very closely with research centres such as ICPVTR and other related agencies. In the afternoon, we visited the Charities Commission of Singapore, which is a government agency under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sport (MCYS). We were told that there's only two countries in the world that have successfully established a dedicated Commission for Charity organizations. Basically, the Charities Commission is entrusted to oversee the running of charity organizations in Singapore. There, we met up with Ms Kristy Ho Khui Keng, a deputy director of the Commission and we were briefed of the roles of the commission in ensuring that charity organizations maintain a certain level of transparency and accountability to their stakeholders and the government.

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