Enforcement
MAS reprimanded Three Arrows Capital for providing false information and exceeding assets under management threshold
30 June 2022
MAS reprimanded Three Arrows Capital Pte. Ltd. for providing false information to MAS and exceeding the assets under management threshold allowed for a registered fund management company.
Actions taken against Noble Group Limited and former directors of Noble Resources International Pte Ltd
24 August 2022
MAS, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), and the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) concluded their joint investigations into Noble Group Limited (NGL) and Noble Resources International Pte Ltd (NRI). MAS imposed a civil penalty of S$12.6 million on NGL for publishing misleading information in its financial statements, in breach of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
ACRA, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), also issued stern warnings to two former directors of NRI for failing to prepare and table annual financial statements in compliance with the prescribed accounting standards in Singapore, in breach of the Companies Act (CA).
MAS imposed composition penalty of S$375,000 on UOB Kay Hian Private Limited for business conduct and AML/CFT failures
31 August 2022
MAS imposed a composition penalty of S$375,000 on UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) for its failures to comply with business conduct requirements under the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism requirements under MAS Notice SFA04-N02. In addition, MAS required UOBKH to appoint an independent external party to validate the implementation and effectiveness of its remediation measures and report the findings to MAS.
Five former remisiers convicted for false trading
8 September 2022
Five former remisiers were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment terms and fines for false trading in the shares of 55 securities listed on the Mainboard and Catalist of the Singapore Exchange. In total, the five individuals made a profit of about S$1.2 million from the market rigging scheme. Heavy fines were imposed to disgorge the five individuals of the profits that they earned.
MAS and SPF took action against former BSI Bank deputy CEO Raj Sriram
10 October 2022
Mr Raj Sriram, former deputy CEO and head of private banking of BSI Bank Limited, Singapore Branch (BSIS), was issued a 10-year prohibition order by MAS and a 24-month conditional warning from the SPF’s CAD for his contribution to BSIS’ failure to file suspicious transaction reports regarding 1Malaysia Development Berhad-related transactions.
Court convicts trader for fraud and deceit under the SFA
25 April 2023
Former trader Mr Pan Qi was sentenced to imprisonment terms and fined S$120,000 for offences involving fraud and deceit under the SFA. Mr Pan had profited from fraudulent trades, which were carried out using accounts belonging to his relatives and the fund management company he worked for.
MAS issued Prohibition Order (PO) against Mr Yeo Siew Liang James for corruption
23 May 2023
MAS issued an 8-year PO against former insurance agent Mr Yeo Siew Liang James, following his conviction by the State Courts for corruption offences. Mr Yeo gave bribes to an embassy official as a reward for accrediting AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte Ltd and Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd to sell performance bonds to employers of Indonesian foreign domestic workers. He also gave bribes to one other individual in exchange for arranging with the embassy official to show favour to these insurers.
MAS issued POs against six individuals for fraudulent and dishonest conduct
1 June 2023
MAS issued 5-year POs against six former agents of Great Eastern Financial Advisers Private Limited, following their convictions for tax evasion offences. The six former agents had engaged a third party to assist them in falsely inflating their business expenses for their income tax returns. These false entries reduced their income taxes for the 2018 and 2019 years of assessment.
MAS penalises three banks and an insurer for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) requirements
21 June 2023
MAS imposed composition penalties amounting to S$3.8 million in total on Citibank N.A., Singapore Branch, DBS Bank Ltd, OCBC Singapore, and Swiss Life (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., for breaches of MAS’ AML and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements. These financial institutions (FIs) were found to have inadequate AML/CFT controls in place when they dealt with persons who were involved in transactions with, or had links to, Wirecard AG or its related parties. Although the breaches were serious, MAS did not find wilful misconduct by any staff of these FIs. The FIs have also taken prompt remedial actions to address the deficiencies identified by MAS.