The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) does everything that a central bank does, including making money. The Singapore dollar is the only legal form of payment. In addition to regulating financial institutions, the MAS has a department called the Financial Sector Promotion Department. This department promotes new financial activities, builds IT infrastructure and human resources for the financial sector, and comes up with the right incentives to bring international financial firms to Singapore to do business.
The Banking Act says that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is in charge of all banking activities. Singapore keeps legal differences between foreign banks and local banks, as well as between the types of licenses held by foreign commercial banks (full service, wholesale, and offshore).
