The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed a composition penalty of S$1.1 million ($820,000) on the trust company Vistra Trust (Singapore) Pte. Limited (VTSPL) for failing to comply with the authority’s AML/CFT regulations.
In 2019, MAS identified VTSPL’s serious violations of AML/CFT requirements for trust companies. These failings made the company vulnerable to being a facilitator of illicit activities. Specifically, VTSPL failed to implement adequate procedures to determine if trust relevant parties (such as the settlor, the trustee, the beneficiary etc.) presented a higher ML/TF risk. As a result, VTSPL failed to identify some high-risk accounts and did not conduct enhanced customer due diligence (CDD) for these accounts. VTSPL even failed to perform adequate enhanced CDD for some known high-risk accounts.
VTSPL has paid the monetary penalty and implemented remedial measures to address its deficiencies. MAS has further ordered VTSPL to appoint an independent party to evaluate the effectiveness of its remedial measures and submit a report.
Source: Monetary Authority of Singapore