The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it had imposed $7.16m in civil penalties and secured 33 criminal convictions in its latest enforcement report covering actions taken on breaches of MAS-administered Acts, Regulations and Notices between 1 July 2023 to 31 December 2024.
Published today (14 April), the MAS said the civil penalties were handed out for false trading (6 individuals), insider trading (1 individual) and deceptive practices (2 entities).
Criminal convictions saw 19 individuals sentenced to imprisonment, imprisonment with fine/disgorgement of profits (1
individual) and fine only (13 individuals), convicted for false trading (12 individuals), deception/ fraud under Securities and Futures Act (5 individuals), disclosure-related breaches (9 individuals), breach of requirements for offer documents (1 individual) and unlicensed conduct of regulated activity (6 individuals).
Financial penalties totalling $4.4m were made against 2 capital markets services licensees for AML/CFT breaches.
542 other actions were taken comprising 35 reprimands, 116 warnings, 86 letters of advice, 305 supervisory reminders, 22 Prohibition Orders, 1 Cancellation of Registration, Unfit representatives banned from re-entering the financial industry for a duration of 1 to 5 years (15 individuals), 6 to 10 years (4 individuals), and more than 10 years (3 individual) /Registration of 1 insurance broker cancelled
Peggy Pao-Keerthi Pei Yu, executive director, enforcement department at MAS said: “As Singapore’s financial sector grows in size and complexity, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has taken steps to ensure that our investigative and enforcement capabilities
keep pace and remain effective.
“In this reporting period, we enhanced our investigative powers via the Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, which strengthened our ability to gather evidence and share them with partner agencies. We also amended our powers to enable us to issue prohibition orders to a broader scope of persons, and prevent them from carrying out functions that are not regulated by MAS but are critical to the integrity of financial institutions.
“Collectively, these legislative amendments stand MAS in strong stead to continue taking robust action against serious misconduct across the financial sector.
“Apart from updating our statutory powers, we continued to deepen our partnership with key agencies, such as the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. We also benefited immensely from learning about the best practices of international counterpart regulators in cutting-edge areas such as cryptocurrency-related surveillance and investigation, through overseas attachments and study exchanges.
She continued: “Even as we strengthen our ability to tackle new or emerging types of misconduct, pursuing manipulative conduct in the securities markets remains one of our evergreen priorities. The increase from the previous report in average time taken for criminal cases reflected the conclusion of a significant number of such matters during this reporting period, including complex investigations involving multiple suspects, novel misconduct or the need for foreign assistance.
“Securing stiff penalties is also an important enforcement strategy to deter similar misconduct. Working with the AGC, we successfully obtained significant imprisonment terms in a case involving “pump and dump” on Telegram and a case involving fraudulent trading by a fund manager.
“Another of our constant enforcement priorities is tackling financial services misconduct. This includes taking firm action against licensees who fail to comply with business conduct rules, and financial institutions and their staff who fail to comply with our anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements, which is a critical pillar of MAS’ strategy for dealing with money
laundering risks. We cancelled the registration of an insurance broker, imposed composition on two fund management companies and reprimanded their officers for noncompliance with such requirements.
She further said: “MAS also conducted supervisory reviews and inspections of financial institutions who had dealings with suspects in the $3 billion money laundering case, and will take enforcement action against those who have fallen short.
“Firm and fair action against misconduct ensures trust in the financial system and is essential to building a dynamic and thriving financial centre. We will continue to enhance our capabilities and processes to meet the ever evolving challenges of enforcement in a dynamic financial sector.”
