SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed S$27.45 million (US$21.55 million) in penalties on nine financial institutions for breaches related to the 2023 money laundering case involving more than S$3 billion in assets.

Action has also been taken against 18 individuals involved in managing relationships with suspects in the case, MAS announced on Friday (Jul 4).

Credit Suisse received the highest composition penalty of S$5.8 million. The bank was acquired by fellow Swiss bank UBS in 2023.

UOB, UBS, UOB Kay Hian and Citibank received the next highest penalties.

Swiss bank Julius Baer, asset management firm Blue Ocean Invest, financial services firm Trident Trust Company and Liechtenstein’s LGT Bank were also penalised.

MAS did not provide the media with a breakdown of the amount of money handled by these financial institutions related to the billion-dollar case.

CNA understands that this is the second largest cumulative penalty imposed by MAS for breaches related to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), after the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case.

In the 1MDB case, MAS imposed S$29.1 million in penalties on eight banks between 2016 and 2017, and also shut two of the banks.

MAS said in a press release that it identified the breaches during its supervisory examinations of the financial institutions from early 2023 to early this year.

The penalty imposed on Credit Suisse takes into account the bank’s breaches of AML/CFT requirements from November 2017 to October 2023 in a separate matter.

This is related to maintaining offshore accounts in Singapore for customers to evade taxes in the United States, for which Credit Suisse reached a non-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice on May 5.

MAS said it observed that most of the financial institutions had established AML/CFT policies and controls.

“The breaches arose out of poor or inconsistent implementation of these policies and controls. The financial institutions have embarked on remediation of the deficiencies and MAS will monitor their progress closely,” it said.

MAS added that this marked the conclusion of its enforcement actions against financial institutions with a “material nexus” to the money laundering case.

Investigations into the transnational case date back to 2021 and ...