Top management sets the tone in fight against money laundering

SINGAPORE'S stance against money laundering took the limelight earlier this week in dramatic fashion when the Monetary Authority of Singapore ordered the shutdown of BSI Bank's Singapore branch for breaches of anti-money laundering rules.

BSI has been under scrutiny in the past couple of years over its role as custodian bank for some US$4 billion of funds invested by the scandal-hit 1MDB. Swiss financial regulator Finma has also ordered the dissolution of the Lugano-based bank. Finma has, in fact, charged that BSI's lapses were the result of a "deliberate management decision". It said that it had highlighted "many serious risks" since 2013, such as the shortcomings related to business relationships with "politically exposed persons" whose assets and transactions were not sufficiently clarified or scrutinis…