A financial regulator has issued 27.5 million Singapore dollars ($21.5 million) in fines to nine financial institutions, including the local subsidiaries of Citibank and UBS, for breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on 4 July that reviews conducted between 2023 and early 2025 uncovered “poor or inconsistent implementation” of policies designed to prevent the proceeds of crime from entering Singapore’s financial system.
The agency said the nine companies all had a “nexus to persons of interest” in Singapore’s biggest-ever money laundering case, which saw more than $2 billion of cash and assets frozen and at least 10 people convicted of laundering the proceeds of organised crime. The case made international headlines in 2023 when hundreds of Singaporean police officers executed pre-dawn raids across the country. MAS has said that the police probe was sparked by suspicious activity reports from banks that the regulator shared with the Commerical Affairs Department – a specialist white-collar crime unit within Singapore’s police force.
MAS said on Friday that its subsequent probe into the role of financial institutions in the scandal found that they “did not detect or adequately follow up on significant discrepancies or red flags noted in information and documents that should have cast doubt on some customers’ purported [sources of wealth] and which indicated increased risk of [money laundering].”
“Like other major international financial centres, Singapore is exposed to money laundering risks. The vigilance of our financial institutions and their employees is critical in mitigating such risks,” said Ho Hern Shin, MAS’s deputy managing director of financial supervision, in a statement. “Where there are serious failings by FIs and their employees, MAS will not hesitate to take firm action.”
GIR reported in 2024 that demand for legal advice on anti-money laundering compliance in Singapore was soaring as banks and businesses in the city-state worried about the consequences of potential gaps in their systems and controls in the aftermath of the raids.
The regulator alleged that five of the institutions – financial services businesses Blue Ocean Invest and United Overseas Bank Kay Hian, and the Singaporean branches of investment banks Citibank, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer – failed to implement proper customer risk assessment policies, and that United Overseas Bank and its subsidiary “failed to take adequate and timely risk mitigation measures” after filing suspicious transaction reports.
MAS said all of the financial institutions except Blue Ocean Invest failed to adequately review transactions flagged as suspicious by their own systems.
The regulator has also taken regulatory action against individuals over the breaches, banning four senior executives at Blue Ocean Invest from working in Singapore’s regulated financial sector for up to six years.
MAS issued public reprimands to current and former Trident Trust Company and United Overseas Bank executives, as well as an unspecified number of private reprimands to other executives.
A year after the first arrests, prosecutors charged two former Citibank and Julius Baer employees for their alleged roles in the scheme.
“MAS had reviewed the conduct of a larger number of employees of the [institutions] connected to the cases but did not find evidence of significant lapses by most of them,” it said, adding: “MAS may take action against a few remaining individuals, after the conclusion of ongoing court proceedings or investigations.”
The Singaporean government has responded to the scandal by introducing measures to make money laundering prosecutions easier and increase oversight of professional “gatekeepers”.
A Citi Singapore spokesperson told GIR in an emailed statement: “We have further strengthened our client onboarding and monitoring processes and continue to work closely with the authorities to protect the integrity of the financial system and enhance financial crime risk and controls measures.”
A spokesperson for UBS, which acquired its Swiss rival Credit Suisse in 2023, said: “We acknowledge MAS’s findings. We have cooperated fully with the authorities to resolve this issue and will continue to work together closely to safeguard Singapore’s financial industry.”
A spokesperson for Trident Trust said: “We cooperated fully with the MAS throughout the inspection, and a detailed remediation plan to address the breaches has been implemented.”
The other companies were contacted for comment.