Singapore: Singapore's financial regulator said yesterday it has fined two British banks and barred a former Goldman Sachs banker in a widening crackdown on money laundering linked to Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
Standard Chartered Bank was slapped with a Sg$5.2m ($3.65m) penalty while Coutts bank was fined Sg$2.4m for breaching anti-money laundering regulations in 1MDB-linked transactions, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.
The fines came after MAS, also the city-state's central bank, shut down the local branches of Swiss lenders BSI and Falcon Private Bank earlier this year for their role in facilitating illicit cross-border fund transfers involving 1MDB.
The scandal has embroiled Malaysian Prime Minister. Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing. An inspection of Standard Chartered Bank revealed "significant lapses" in due diligence measures, the MAS said, adding that some staff were unaware of money laundering risks. MAS said while the breaches were "serious", its investigation "did not find pervasive control weakness or wilful misconduct" at the lender. British bank Coutts, which in 2015 was sold to Union Bancaire Privee, was sanctioned for a lack of due diligence on customers deemed "politically exposed persons", a term for people with close government connections.
