SINGAPORE (Bernama): The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed composition penalties amounting to S$27.45 million on nine financial institutions (FIs) in relation to a S$3 billion (RM9.95 billion) money laundering case in 2023.
In a statement on Friday, MAS announced its regulatory actions against the FIs and a number of individuals for anti-money laundering-related breaches.
Credit Suisse (Singapore branch) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) received the highest penalties, at S$5.8 million and S$5.6 million respectively, followed by UBS AG (Singapore branch) with S$3 million.
Other banks on the list include Citibank N.A. Singapore and Citibank Singapore Ltd, collectively known as Citi (S$2.6 million); Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. (Singapore branch) (S$2.4 million); and LGT Bank (Singapore) Ltd. (S$1 million).
Also on the list are two capital markets licence holders -- UOB Kay Hian Pte. Ltd. (S$2.85 million) and Blue Ocean Invest Pte. Ltd. (S$2.4 million) -- as well as a licensed trust company, Trident Trust Company (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (S$1.8 million).
MAS said the penalties took into account various factors, including the extent of the FI’s exposure to the persons of interest (POIs), the number of breaches of MAS’ requirements, and the degree of weakness in the FI’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) controls.
"Overall, MAS observed that while most of the FIs had established AML/CFT policies and controls, the breaches arose out of poor or inconsistent implementation of these policies and controls,” the statement said.
Among other findings, all nine FIs failed to detect or adequately follow up on significant discrepancies or red flags noted in information and documents that should have cast doubt on some customers’ purported sources of wealth.
MAS noted that the FIs have embarked on remediation of the deficiencies, and their progress will be monitored closely by the financial regulator.
In addition, MAS has issued prohibition orders (POs) ranging from three to six years in duration, as well as reprimands against individuals who were involved in managing the FIs’ relationships with the POIs.
During the period of their POs, the individuals are prohibited from carrying on any activity or business, or providing any service, the carrying on or provision of which is regulated or authorised by MAS.
They are also prohibited from taking part, directly or indirectly, in the management of, or acting as a director, partner or manager of, any FI, and from becoming substantial shareholders of any FI that is a corporation.
MAS deputy managing director (financial supervision) Ho Hern Shin said MAS will work closely with financial institutions to promote more consistent implementation of AML/CFT measures.
"Like other major international financial centres, Singapore is exposed to money laundering risks. The vigilance of our financial institutions and their employees is critical in mitigating such risks,” she said adding that it will hesitate to take firm action. - Bernama
