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5/2/23, 5:10 PM

US Treasury and Monetary Authority of Singapore Conduct Joint Exercise to Strengthen Cross-Border Cyber Incident Coordination …

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
US Treasury and Monetary Authority of Singapore Conduct Joint
Exercise to Strengthen Cross-Border Cyber Incident
Coordination and Crisis Management
May 1, 2023

WASHINGTON—The United States Department of the Treasury and the Monetary Authority of
Singapore (MAS) have been expanding its collaboration on cybersecurity and operational
resilience issues since Vice President Kamala Harris announced the formal partnership and
finalization of a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) on Cybersecurity Cooperation
between Treasury and Singapore’s MAS in August 2021. Pursuant to the expanded partnership,
Treasury and MAS carried out a cross-border cybersecurity exercise from April 25-27, 2023. This
exercise allowed both agencies to test and strengthen existing protocols for information
exchange and incident response coordination for cyber incidents involving banks operating in
both jurisdictions.
Given the rising cyber threats targeting financial services, and the interconnectedness of the
United States’ and Singapore’s financial ecosystems, timely coordination and cooperation
during a cyber incident with cross border impact is essential in ensuring a swift response and
effective recovery of the affected operations.
“This exercise is a significant step forward for the cyber partnership between the United States
and Singapore, representing an effort to bolster cybersecurity cooperation and our ability to
communicate in response to a significant cross-border incident and shows our commitment to
bolstering this partnership since Vice President Harris announced the partnership in Singapore
and Deputy Secretary Adeyemo established a formal MoU between our two authorities in 2021,”
said Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Cybersecurity and Critical
Infrastructure Protection Todd Conklin. “We appreciate our Singapore partners for working with
us to make that possible. Every day we are reminded that cyber threats cross all national
borders as there has been an exponential growth in threat actor activities. We must have a

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5/2/23, 5:10 PM

US Treasury and Monetary Authority of Singapore Conduct Joint Exercise to Strengthen Cross-Border Cyber Incident Coordination …

coordinated international response to the increase in threats, as the interconnectedness of our
financial systems makes us only as strong as our weakest endpoints.”

“As the United States and Singapore are major international financial hubs where a number of
global systemically important banks operate in, the cyber resiliency of these institutions in the
respective countries has systemic implications on financial stability globally,” said MAS
Assistant Managing Director (Technology), Vincent Loy. “The exercise is a key milestone in
Treasury and MAS’ continued and close cooperation to strengthen our collective cybersecurity
preparedness, and to safeguard financial stability.”

Following the exercise, Treasury and MAS reviewed the lessons gleaned, discussed possible
enhancements and involvement of other international partners in future exercises, and
explored other opportunities to deepen cybersecurity cooperation, such as holding bilateral
workshops on cybersecurity policies and protocols.

***

ABOUT THE MONETARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore’s central bank and integrated financial
regulator. As a central bank, MAS promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth
through the conduct of monetary policy and close macroeconomic surveillance and analysis. It
manages Singapore’s exchange rate, official foreign reserves, and liquidity in the banking
sector. As an integrated financial supervisor, MAS fosters a sound financial services sector
through its prudential oversight of all financial institutions in Singapore – banks, insurers,
capital market intermediaries, financial advisors and financial market infrastructures. It is also
responsible for well-functioning financial markets, sound conduct, and investor education. MAS
also works with the financial industry to promote Singapore as a dynamic international
financial centre. It facilitates the development of infrastructure, adoption of technology, and
upgrading of skills in the financial industry.

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