The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has published its Enforcement Report for the period from January 2019 to June 2020. This report highlights the many enforcement actions that MAS has taken against those who have violated its regulations and requirements, including financial misconduct, AML violations, and market abuse. Some salient points from this report are discussed below.
In the report period, MAS levied penalties of over $11.7 million and successfully convicted nine financial criminals for financial misconduct or related violations. In addition, MAS levied fines worth $3.3 million for AML violations. Moreover, MAS successfully reduced the average time it takes to complete its investigations. For criminal cases, it recorded a reduction from 33 months to 24 months of investigation time. Meanwhile, for civil penalty cases, the authority reduced its review and investigation time from 30 months to 26 months.
Additionally, in collaboration with many stakeholders, MAS has worked towards establishing ways to detect market misconduct early. Along this line, MAS and the Singapore Exchange collaboratively issued a trade surveillance practice guide to guide brokers on how to ensure good practices in their operations. Now, the MAS will be focusing on pursuing disclosure violation cases as well as financial institutions that have not implemented adequate AML/CFT frameworks, among other goals.
Source name: Monetary Authority of Singapore