MAS slaps 5-year prohibition order on former CIMB banker for insider trading

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a five-year prohibition order against a former vice-president of CIMB Bank Bhd, Alan Tay Yeow Kee, for insider trading, it said on Tuesday.

In 2011, Mr Tay arranged for another person to purchase on his behalf the shares of two listed companies, Qualitas Medical Group Ltd and Leeden Ltd. Mr Tay did this while in possession of "non-public and price sensitive" information that both companies had received takeover offers. He had obtained the inside information by virtue of his position in CIMB.

Mr Tay made a profit of around S$30,000 from the shares purchased with the privileged information.

In May 2017, Mr Tay was convicted on three charges under the Securities and Futures Act for insider trading. Three other charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing. He was fined S$180,000.

Under the prohibition order, Mr Tay will be prohibited from carrying out any regulated activities and from taking part in the management, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any capital market services firm under the Securities and Futures Act. The prohibition order against Mr Tay took effect on Monday.