The MAS naughty list: Who has been hit by more than S$28.5 million in penalties?
In recent months, these companies and individuals have been sanctioned for a range of breaches, including money laundering lapses, forgery and misselling
[SINGAPORE] The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced actions against multiple financial institutions and individuals for breaches ranging from severe anti-money laundering (AML) lapses related to the 2023 money laundering scandal, to forgery, mis-selling and regulatory failures.
The total quantum of composition penalties imposed across these actions exceeded S$28.5 million across the period from June to September.
Here are the institutions and individuals who faced the regulator’s wrath during this period.
Nine financial institutions
MAS imposed a collective penalty of S$27.45 million on nine financial institutions for breaches of AML and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) rules. The penalties are linked to a massive S$3 billion money laundering case that was uncovered in August 2023.
Credit Suisse, which was acquired by UBS in 2023, received the largest penalty of S$5.8 million. UOB was fined S$5.6 million, and UBS was fined S$3 million. Other institutions penalised were UOB Kay Hian, Citibank, Julius Baer, LGT Bank, Blue Ocean Invest and Trident Trust Company.
The institutions were found to have inadequate customer risk assessments, insufficient verification of customers’ sources of wealth, and weak transaction monitoring. Eight of the nine institutions failed to adequately investigate suspicious transactions flagged by their own systems.
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In addition to the financial penalties, MAS has taken action against 18 individuals who were involved in managing relationships with suspects in the money laundering case.
Five major payment institutions
A composition penalty totalling S$960,000 was imposed on five major payment institutions for breaches of AML and CFT requirements.
The five institutions, which are licensed to provide cross-border money transfer services, are:
- Remsea: Fined S$280,000 for breaches between August 2020 and August 2023.
- Arcade Plaza Traders: Fined S$260,000 for breaches between March 2020 and August 2023.
- J-Dee Remittance Services: Fined S$170,000 for breaches between July 2022 and August 2023.
- Mobile Community Tech: Fined S$140,000 for breaches between September 2021 and July 2023.
- OxPay SG: Fined S$110,000 for breaches between May 2021 and November 2022.
The institutions were found to have inadequate controls, resulting in multiple breaches of the requirements. These included failures to obtain and verify customer information, screen customers and related parties against relevant money laundering and terrorism financing information sources, as well as include required information in cross-border wire transfers.
MAS stated that these failures exposed the institutions to the risk of being used as a conduit for financial crime and undermined the transparency of fund movements.
Singlife Financial Advisers
Singlife Financial Advisers was fined S$93,750 for failing to implement effective policies related to the recruitment and supervision of its representatives.
The breaches occurred between November 2017 and March 2020, when the company was known as Aviva Financial Advisers (AFA).
MAS has also taken regulatory action against eight individuals formerly affiliated with AFA. These include prohibition orders of up to four years for three individuals and reprimands for five others.
The investigation revealed that AFA had allowed private arrangements where supervisors would oversee representatives from other teams. This practice, known as “parking”, weakened proper supervision and training, and led to breaches of the Financial Advisers Act and Financial Advisers Regulations.
Lionel Chee, the former chief executive of AFA, was issued a one-year prohibition order for failing to ensure the company’s compliance with regulations. Two former representatives were also issued prohibition orders for their involvement in the breaches, with one of them found to have taught other representatives to make false and misleading statements to customers.
Xen Capital Asia
MAS revoked the Capital Markets Services licence of Xen Capital Asia for multiple breaches of regulatory requirements.
MAS also announced that it reprimanded the company’s executive director and former CEO, Katrina Cokeng, for failing to discharge her duties.
The authority found that the company committed a series of violations, including failures to submit required financial documents, establish a proper compliance framework, or pay its annual corporate fees for the 2024 financial year.
It also failed to inform MAS of a change in its principal place of business, the resignation of an executive director, and of having fewer than two full-time appointed representatives.
Great Eastern Financial Advisers/AXA Insurance
MAS issued a five-year prohibition order against Jonathan Toh, a former representative of Great Eastern Financial Advisers (GEFA) and AXA Insurance.
The MAS investigation found that Toh engaged in deceptive practices to meet sales targets. While at GEFA, he falsely informed a former client from his time at AXA that the client could transfer an existing AXA policy to GEFA.
Knowing that this was not possible, Toh proceeded to forge the client’s signature to establish a new GEFA policy without the client’s knowledge. The deception was discovered when the client’s original AXA policy lapsed after Toh had advised the client to ignore payment reminder notices from AXA.
AIA Singapore
Rachel Wong, a former representative of AIA Singapore, was issued a three-year prohibition order for mis-selling insurance products to a vulnerable client.
An MAS investigation revealed that in October 2022, Wong recommended several insurance policies, including complex investment-linked products, to a client with an intellectual disability. MAS found that she did not take into account the client’s financial situation, limited education and lack of investment experience. The client would not have been able to afford the premium payments for the full tenure of the policies.
Wong also failed to collect and document adequate information about the client’s financial situation and did not provide a basis for her recommendations.
DBS
MAS found that Liong Yan Sin, a former collections officer at DBS, made unauthorised searches on the bank’s customer information system. He accessed information out of personal curiosity and also at the request of Dinath Silvamany Muthaliyar, a former colleague, and Ang Kok How, a friend.
Muthaliyar had asked Liong to retrieve salary details of his colleagues at his new workplace, while Ang had requested the contact details of a mutual acquaintance.
All three individuals received prohibition orders under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022, were convicted of offences related to unauthorised access to computer materials, and sentenced to imprisonment.
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