ENFORCEMENT actions taken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and partners since January 2022 till June this year led to a total of S$20.8 million in penalties collected, 39 criminal convictions, and 18 prohibition orders issued, among other things.

Of the penalties, S$7.1 million was from composition penalties for anti-money-laundering-related breaches and nearly S$13 million was from civil penalties for market abuse cases. The remainder came from penalties from other breaches.

This represents the highest amount of penalties since MAS began publishing its Enforcement Report in 2019.

The report published on Tuesday (Sep 19) covers the period from January 2022 to June 2023. During the period, the authorities also opened 136 cases and took 455 other actions – seven reprimands, 112 warnings, 49 letters of advice and 287 supervisory reminders.

The figures are a result of a joint investigation arrangement between MAS and Singapore Police Force’s Commercial Affairs Department, and are reported for the first time in MAS’ enforcement report.

Notable actions included a record civil penalty of S$12.6 million slapped on Noble Group for disclosure-related offences. The case also resulted in five former remisiers convicted for false trading.

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Composition penalties totalling S$3.8 million were also imposed on Citibank Singapore, DBS, OCBC and insurer Swiss Life Singapore for breaching MAS’ Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements, following news of the Wirecard scandal.

Most recently, MAS also slapped nine-year prohibition orders on the co-founders of Three Arrows Capital, Zhu Su and Kyle Livingston Davies, over failure to ensure the company’s compliance with regulatory requirements.

The orders prohibit them from performing any regulated activity and taking part in the management of, acting as a director of, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any capital market services firm under the Securities and Futures Act.

MAS said that in the next two years, it will focus its enforcement efforts on two areas: within the digital asset ecosystem as well as on asset and wealth managers.

“MAS has taken strong enforcement actions and deepened relationships with our partners to uphold the integrity and reputation of Singapore as a trusted financial centre,” said Peggy Pao, executive director (enforcement) of MAS.

“Even as the novelty and complexity of our cases increase, we will continue to administer an effective and fair enforcement regime in order to deter misconduct, protect consumers and maintain investor confidence.”