Singapore’s central bank has imposed S$27.45 million ($20.3 million) in fines on nine financial institutions after concluding a sweeping investigation into anti-money laundering (AML) lapses tied to a major money laundering case uncovered in August 2023.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it had completed its supervisory examinations of institutions linked to persons of interest (POIs) in the high-profile case, marking the conclusion of regulatory enforcement against firms materially connected to the incident.
The case involved billions of dollars in suspected illicit funds flowing through Singapore’s financial system.
The largest penalties were imposed on Credit Suisse Singapore (S$5.8 million), United Overseas Bank (S$5.6 million), and UBS Singapore (S$3 million).
Other banks and financial firms fined include Citibank (S$2.6 million), Bank Julius Baer (S$2.4 million), LGT Bank (S$1 million), UOB Kay Hian (S$2.85 million), Blue Ocean Invest (S$2.4 million), and Trident Trust Singapore (S$1.8 million).
MAS said the breaches stemmed from poor implementation of existing AML/CFT policies, with deficiencies found in customer risk assessments, source-of-wealth (SOW) verification, transaction monitoring, and post-suspicious transaction report follow-ups.
In several cases, red flags were ignored, customer profiles were misclassified, and large or unusual transactions were not sufficiently reviewed.
Four senior executives from Blue Ocean Invest were issued prohibition orders ranging from three to six years, including CEO Tsao Chung-Yi and COO Wong Xuan Ling, for failing to establish adequate risk controls as the firm rapidly expanded.
Two former UOB managers and three senior personnel at Trident Trust also received public reprimands, while nine relationship managers received private warnings.
MAS emphasized that front-line staff such as relationship managers must act as the first line of defence in detecting and mitigating financial crime risks.
It urged all institutions to benchmark their controls against industry best practices and pledged to monitor remediation closely.
The regulator said Singapore remains exposed to global money laundering risks, and warned it will not hesitate to take firm action against serious failings.
