SINGAPORE: Singapore’s central bank imposed penalties of S$5.2 million ($3.95 million) on Standard Chartered Bank (SCBC) and S$1.2 million on Standard Chartered Trust (Singapore) (SCTS) for breaching money laundering rules and terrorism financing safeguards.
In a statement on Monday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the breaches occurred when trust accounts of SCBC’ customers were transferred from Standard Chartered Trust (Guernsey) to SCTS from December 2015 to January 2016.
“MAS requires financial institutions to adequately assess money laundering risks when deciding whether to accept customers. They should also have in place good systems and processes to monitor customer transactions,” said MAS Deputy Managing Director Ong Chong Tee.
The MAS and Guernsey’s Financial Services Commission had been looking into Standard Chartered’s movement of some assets, mainly of Indonesian clients in late 2015, just before the Channel Island adopted new global rules on exchanging tax information.
“The timing of the transfers raised questions of whether the clients were attempting to avoid their CRS reporting obligations. However, SCBC and SCTS did not adequately assess and mitigate against this risk factor, and also failed to file suspicious transaction reports in a timely manner,” MAS said.
In a statement, Standard Chartered conceded that it fell short of its own standards to mitigate risks but said it was taking action to rectify these deficiencies.
“We ourselves identified the issue, we recognized that we weren’t as diligent as we needed to be in the transfer of some trust assets from Guernsey to Singapore,” Standard Chartered’s CEO Bill Winters said at Credit Suisse’s annual Asia Investment Conference in Hong Kong on Monday. “We reported both our own shortcomings and also the action of our clients to the MAS.”
“The important thing ... is we are making investments necessary to make sure there is no repeat,” he said.
Standard Chartered said in 2016 that it was to close its trust operations in Guernsey and centralize that part of its business in Singapore.
Singapore fines Standard Chartered entities $4.9 million for money laundering breaches
Singapore fines Standard Chartered entities $4.9 million for money laundering breaches
DP World announces new leadership appointments
DUBAI: DP World announced the appointment of Essa Kazim as Chairman of its Board of Directors and the appointment of Yuvraj Narayan as Group Chief Executive Officer.
Essa Kazim currently serves as Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre and Chairman of Borse Dubai. He brings extensive experience in financial and economic affairs, having previously held senior leadership positions in several national institutions.
Yuvraj Narayan has extensive professional experience in financial management, corporate finance, supply chains, and global trade. Since joining DP World in 2004, he has led a number of strategic and transformational initiatives that supported the company’s expansion across international markets and strengthened its role as an integrated global provider of end-to-end supply chain solutions.
Narayan has served as Group Chief Financial Officer since 2005, contributing to the company’s financial resilience and operational efficiency.
DP World affirmed that the new appointments support its strategy for sustainable growth and reinforce its role in strengthening global supply chains and supporting Dubai’s position as a leading hub for trade and logistics.
