Regulations Allowing Banking and Finance Sector to Champion Philanthropic Causes and Social Impact Here and Beyond

Ms Carrie Tan asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether the current regulations for the banking and finance sector allow family office and private banking relationship managers to be proactive in discussing philanthropic giving with their clients; (b) whether the Ministry has plans to catalyse these professions to help channel capital into philanthropic causes and social impact in Singapore and beyond; and (c) if so, what are they.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the relevant Government agencies have been working with the industry to shepherd wealth to purposeful causes locally and in the region, including through developing philanthropy advisory talent and resources. MAS' rules already allow banks to provide advisory services to support their clients' philanthropic giving, such as where these are incidental to the banks' core business or as part of the business of providing advice on the social impact of their client's investments.

As mentioned at the 18 September 2023 Parliament Sitting, to develop philanthropy advisory capabilities amongst finance professionals, MAS and the Institute of Banking and Finance jointly published in 2021 a set of technical skills and competencies relevant to finance professionals seeking to provide philanthropy advisory services. [Please refer to "Managing Significant Investments in Critical Entities to Protect National Assets and Critical Industries", Official Report, 18 September 2023, Vol 95, Issue 111, Written Answers to Questions section.]

Training providers and individuals, today, continue to reference this set of technical skills and competencies to develop and attend relevant courses, respectively. Locals who attend training courses benchmarked against these skills and competencies enjoy co-funding support for their course fees. As an example, the Wealth Management Institute (WMI), a training provider, has trained close to 300 individuals in philanthropy advisory since their course was launched in May 2022.

Beyond training, MAS and Government agencies have collaborated with the industry to develop other resources and introduced policies to catalyse the channelling of capital into philanthropic causes. These include:

(a) Supporting the development of an online platform that finance professionals can use to access charitable and impact organisations, due diligence resources and impact monitoring tools. This will help enhance the philanthropy advisory services that finance professionals can provide to their clients. The first release of this platform is expected in 2025.

(b) Launching the Impact Philanthropy Partnership in 2023 with key private banks and WMI to conduct forums and research, to raise awareness amongst high-net-worth individuals and finance professionals on philanthropic causes and practices, galvanise giving and encourage philanthropic partnerships.

(c) Enhancing tax incentive schemes for single family offices in 2023 that recognise donations to qualifying local charities as eligible spending as well as implementing the Philanthropy Tax Incentive Scheme in 2024 for qualifying donors to claim tax deduction for overseas donations. These enhancements complement the 250% tax deduction rate for qualifying donations made to Institutions of a Public Character and eligible institutions, which the Ministry of Finance extended by another three years till end-2026.

MAS and other Government agencies will continue to engage and work with the industry to encourage the channelling of wealth to purposeful causes.