The Monetary Authority of Singapore imposed a civil penalty of S$2,400,000 on JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.'s Singapore branch on 2 December 2024, following a determination that relationship managers at the bank made inaccurate or incomplete disclosures to private banking clients across 24 over-the-counter bond transactions. The penalty was applied under section 236C of the Securities and Futures Act, which empowers the MAS to sanction financial institutions for failures to prevent and detect employee misconduct that contravenes the Act.
In each of the 24 affected OTC bond transactions, JPMorgan relationship managers charged clients spreads above bilaterally agreed rates without adequately disclosing the deviation. Those acts constituted contraventions of sections 201(c) and 201(d) of the SFA, which prohibit, respectively, making false statements and omitting material facts in connection with dealings in capital markets products. JPMorgan admitted liability, paid the S$2.4 million penalty in full, and refunded the overcharged amounts to all clients who had been affected by the undisclosed spread adjustments.
PRIVATE BANKING PRICING PRACTICES UNDER REVIEW
The MAS found that JPMorgan's internal supervisory and monitoring framework was insufficient to prevent or promptly detect instances in which relationship managers departed from agreed pricing without communicating the change to clients.
MAS said the enforcement action followed its review of pricing and disclosure practices in the private banking industry; JPMorgan described the review as an industry-wide thematic inspection.
REMEDIATION
JPMorgan admitted liability, and it had refunded affected clients following an internal review completed in 2020.
Separate reviews into the individual relationship managers involved in the misconduct are ongoing, MAS said.