Swiss-Asia Financial Services fined S$2.5 million for breaches of anti-money laundering requirements

SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has fined Swiss-Asia Monetary Services S$2.5 million (US$1.8 million) for further than one breaches of requirements to safeguard against money laundering and terrorism financing.

A reprimand has also been issued to the company’s chief govt officer and chief working officer for failing to carry out definite compliance with these requirements.

The wealth and fund management company seen necessary enhance in its industrial between September 2015 and October 2018, MAS illustrious in a media inaugurate on Tuesday (Might perchance presumably presumably furthermore 7).

On the opposite hand, the company’s modify measures across a necessary replacement of areas did no longer retain slump with its enhance, exposing it to the threat of monetary crime.

So a lot of breaches had been uncovered at some level of MAS’ inspection.

These included the failure to like in mind certain connected threat components relating to to the company’s customers and industrial actions in its endeavor-broad threat evaluation.

Swiss-Asia Monetary Services also did no longer build buyer due diligence measures before establishing industrial family.

“SAFS’ prepare used to be to keep industrial family with customers before buyer due diligence measures had been done,” stated MAS.

The monetary establishment also did no longer scrutinise extra than one third-birthday party transactions in customers’ accounts although the transactions weren’t according to its recordsdata of the customers.

Diversified failures embrace now no longer figuring out hundreds of purchasers to be of greater money laundering or terrorism financing threat although there were crimson flags, ensuing in failure to build enhanced buyer due diligence measures.

For other customers that the company had identified to be of greater threat, Swiss-Asia Monetary Services did no longer adequately keep the provide of wealth or the provide of funds of the customers and their really handy homeowners.

The corporate did no longer accomplish approval from its senior management to keep or continue industrial family with some of these greater-threat customers.

It also did no longer post suspicious transaction experiences in relation to several customers although there used to be ample basis to attain so, and did no longer habits any interior audit to examine the effectiveness of the company’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism controls and its compliance with regulatory requirements.

The CEO of Swiss-Asia Monetary Services, Olivier Pascal Mivelaz, and COO Steve Knabl had been issued a reprimand for failing to discharge their respective duties and capabilities of their locations of work to carry out definite that the company complied with MAS’ requirements.

“Namely, they’d permitted the inadequate endeavor-broad threat evaluation. Moreover they failed, over a length of four years, to carry out definite that in style interior audits had been utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of SAFS’ anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism controls in peek of the company’s necessary industrial enhance at some level of that time,” stated MAS.

The corporate has taken the necessary remedial actions to handle the deficiencies identified by MAS.

“Monetary institutions providing wealth management companies and products to high salvage price participants ought to take commensurate measures to mitigate heightened money laundering and terrorism financing risks,” stated Ms Loo Siew Yee, MAS assistant managing director for coverage, payments and monetary crime.

“The boards and senior management of monetary institutions are expected to position in impart ample anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism controls, actively oversee the implementation of the controls, and carry out definite that compliance and interior audit capabilities are working successfully and retaining slump with the monetary establishment’s industrial enhance.”