SINGAPORE – Credit Suisse (Singapore Branch) and UOB were each handed more than $5 million in penalties for flouting anti-money laundering controls related to the $3 billion money laundering case in 2023.

They were among nine financial institutions (FIs) handed $27.45 million in composition penalties by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

On July 4, MAS announced the penalties and said it also took action against 18 individuals who worked for the FIs at the time.

Credit Suisse, which was rescued and taken over by UBS in 2023, faced the highest penalty of $5.8 million. This also took into account its

breaches from November 2017 to October 2023

in relation to accounts that the now-defunct Swiss bank maintained on behalf of certain US customers.

UOB was next with penalties amounting to $5.6 million, and then UBS at $3 million.

The other FIs are brokerage UOB Kay Hian, asset manager Blue Ocean Invest, Citibank N.A. Singapore and Citibank Singapore – collectively known as Citi – and the Singapore branches of Julius Baer, LGT Bank as well as fund services firm Trident Trust.

MAS said the FIs did not adequately check on customers’ sources of wealth, even though there were discrepancies in the documents they had provided.

In fact, eight of the nine FIs did not adequately investigate suspicious transactions flagged by their own systems.

Singapore’s

largest case of money laundering

involving $3 billion in cash and assets saw 10 foreigners arrested in multiple islandwide raids here...