The Monetary Authority of Singapore has strengthened its policies in a bid to combat cross-border tax evasion and set a more solid framework for international tax cooperation.

The new four-pronged strategy, which will be enforced before the end of 2013, is an enhancement on the current Exchange of Information framework and incorporates a new Standard set for EOI for tax purposes, which it first endorsed in 2009.

This includes extending EOI assistance according to the standard to all its existing tax agreement partners without needing to individually update bilateral tax agreements, signing the "Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters" which was recently promoted as an international agreement for bilateral tax cooperation among signatories of the OECD-Council of Europe convention, allowing IRAs to obtain bank and trust information from financial institutions without having to seek a court order, and concluding with the US an inter-governmental agreement that will compel financial institutions in Singapore to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

FATCA is a US law that requires all financial institutions outside the US to pass information about financial accounts held by US persons to the US IRS on a regular basis.

There are currently 45 signatories to the convention and the changes will expand Singapore's network of EOI partners to 11 jurisdictions, including Brazil and the US. The changes effectively increase the number of jurisdictions that Singapore will be able to exchange information with from 41 to 83.

"There is no conflict between high standards of financial integrity and keeping our strengths as a centre for managing wealth.  Singapore will continue to be a vibrant wealth management centre, with laws and rules that safeguard legitimate funds and reject tainted money," said Tharman Shanmugaratnam, deputy prime minister and minister for finance for the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The changes come after measures introduced by the MAS since 2011 to ensure that Singapore's financial system is not used to harbour illegitimate funds or as a conduit for the flow of undeclared assets. The central bank said that after 1 July 2013, the city-state will criminalise the laundering of proceeds from serious tax offences.