Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore
Logo of MAS
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| Headquarters | 10 Shenton Way MAS Building, Singapore 079117 |
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| Established | 1971 |
| Chairman | Tharman Shanmugaratnam |
| Central bank of | Singapore |
| Currency |
Singapore dollar SGD (ISO 4217) |
| Reserves | US$273.1 billion |
| Bank rate | 5.35% |
| Website | http://www.mas.gov.sg |
| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1971 |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Government of Singapore |
| Headquarters | 10 Shenton Way MAS Building, Singapore 079117 |
| Minister responsible |
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| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | Prime Minister's Office |
| Website | www |
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 and financial regulatory authority. It administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general, as well as currency issuance. The acronym is a play on words, as "mas" means "gold" in Malay.
The MAS was founded in 1971 to oversee various monetary functions associated with banking and finance. Before its establishment, monetary functions were performed by government departments and agencies. The acronym for its name resembles mas, the word for 'gold' in Malay, Singapore's national language – although it is not pronounced in the same way.
As Singapore progressed, an increasingly complex banking and monetary environment required more dynamic and coherent monetary administration. Therefore, in 1970, the Parliament of Singapore passed the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act leading to the formation of MAS on 1 January 1971. The act gives MAS the authority to regulate all elements of monetary policy, banking, and finance in Singapore.
In April 1977, the Government decided to bring the regulation of the insurance industry under the wing of the MAS and in September 1984 the regulatory functions under the Securities Industry Act (1973) were also transferred to MAS. This means that unlike many other central banks, MAS is also the financial regulatory authority for 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 such as Federal Reserve System or Bank of England, MAS does not regulate the monetary system via interest rates to influence the liquidity in the system. Instead, it chooses to do it via the foreign exchange mechanism. It does so by intervening in the SGD market.
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Wikipedia