The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced enforcement actions against nine financial institutions and a number of individuals for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism breaches linked to persons of interest in the August 2023 major money laundering case. The measures include S$27.45 million in composition penalties across the nine institutions and are presented as the conclusion of MAS’ enforcement actions against financial institutions with a material nexus to the case. Penalties were imposed on Credit Suisse Singapore Branch (S$5.8 million), United Overseas Bank Limited (S$5.6 million), UBS AG Singapore Branch (S$3 million), Citibank N.A. Singapore and Citibank Singapore Limited collectively (S$2.6 million), Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. Singapore Branch (S$2.4 million), LGT Bank (Singapore) Ltd. (S$1 million), UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (S$2.85 million), Blue Ocean Invest Pte. Ltd. (S$2.4 million), and Trident Trust Company (Singapore) Pte. Limited (S$1.8 million). MAS’ supervisory examinations, conducted from early 2023 to early 2025, found that breaches generally stemmed from poor or inconsistent implementation of existing AML/CFT frameworks, with shortcomings in customer risk assessment, source of wealth establishment and corroboration for higher-risk customers, transaction monitoring, and post-suspicious transaction report follow-up. The Credit Suisse Singapore Branch penalty also reflects separate AML/CFT breaches from November 2017 to October 2023 linked to certain US customer accounts, including failures around aliases, source of wealth corroboration, and beneficial ownership identification. MAS issued prohibition orders of three to six years to four individuals at Blue Ocean Invest Pte. Ltd., with effect dates of 30 June 2025 or 1 August 2025, and issued reprimands to senior managers at Trident Trust Company (Singapore) Pte. Limited and to two former team heads at United Overseas Bank for lapses including due diligence and post-STR follow-up. A further nine relationship managers and supervisors were privately reprimanded, and MAS noted it may take action against a few remaining individuals after ongoing court proceedings or investigations conclude. MAS also published supervisory expectations drawn from the case findings and indicated it will monitor institutions’ remediation progress.
Monetary Authority of Singapore 2025-07-04
Monetary Authority of Singapore imposes S$27.45 million in AML/CFT composition penalties on nine institutions and issues bans and reprimands tied to the 2023 money laundering case
The Monetary Authority of Singapore imposed S$27.45 million in penalties on nine financial institutions for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism breaches linked to the August 2023 money laundering case. Penalties were levied on institutions including Credit Suisse Singapore Branch and United Overseas Bank Limited, due to poor implementation of AML/CFT frameworks. MAS issued prohibition orders to individuals and reprimands to senior managers, with potential further actions pending court proceedings.