The Monetary Authority of Singapore (Abbreviation: MAS; Chinese: 新加坡金融管理局; Malay: Penguasa Kewangan Singapura) is Singapore's central bank. It was set up in 1971 to oversee various monetary functions associated with banking as well as finance. Before its establishment, monetary functions were performed by government departments and agencies.
As Singapore progressed, the demands of an increasingly complex banking and monetary environment necessitated streamlining the functions to facilitate the development of a more dynamic and coherent policy on monetary matters. Therefore in 1970, Parliament passed the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act leading to the formation of MAS on 1 January 1971. The MAS Act gives MAS the authority to regulate all elements of monetary, banking and financial aspects of Singapore.
The MAS has been given powers to act as a banker to and financial agent of the Government. It has also been entrusted to promote monetary stability, and credit and exchange policies conducive to the growth of the economy.
However, unlike many other central banks like the Federal Reserve System or Bank of England, MAS does not regulate the monetary system via interest rate to influence the liquidity in the system. Instead, it choses to do it via the foreign exchange mechanism. It does so by intervening in the SGD market.
In April 1977, the Government decided to bring the regulation of the insurance industry under the wing of the MAS. The regulatory functions under the Securities Industry Act (1973) were also transferred to MAS in September 1984.
The MAS now administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general. Following its merger with the Board of Commissioners of Currency on 1 October 2002, the MAS has also assumed the function of currency issuance.
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