Key Supervisory and Regulatory Initiatives MARKET CONDUCT Civil Penalty Regime The civil penalty regime under the SFA to deal with market misconduct contraventions became operational in January 2004. Under this regime, MAS may, with the consent of the Public Prosecutor, seek a court order requiring a person to pay a civil penalty to MAS for market misconduct breaches. The regime also provides for out-of-court agreements between MAS and the contravening person for the latter to pay civil penalties to MAS, with or without admission of liability. Introduced to support Singapore’s move towards a disclosure-based regulatory regime for our capital markets, the civil penalty regime is the first of its kind in Singapore and complements the criminal regime for market misconduct breaches under Part XII of the SFA. MAS took its first civil penalty action against three individuals for breaches of the insider trading provisions of the SFA in October 2004. The three individuals admitted to civil penalty liability and paid civil penalties of S$715,000 to MAS, without court action.