The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced on 4 July 2025 composition penalties totalling S$27.45 million on nine financial institutions for failures in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls linked to the money laundering case that came to light in August 2023. The institutions penalised are Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., Singapore Branch; Blue Ocean Invest; Citibank N.A. Singapore Branch and Citibank Singapore Limited; Credit Suisse Singapore Branch; LGT Bank (Singapore); UOB; UOB Kay Hian; Trident Trust Company (Singapore); and UBS AG, Singapore Branch.
The August 2023 case resulted in the seizure of assets valued at over S$3 billion and the arrest of multiple foreign nationals. MAS's supervisory examinations, conducted from early 2023 to early 2025, assessed whether each institution had maintained adequate controls to detect, assess, and report suspicious activity associated with the individuals and entities involved.
FAILURES IN RISK ASSESSMENT AND SOURCE OF WEALTH
MAS found that all nine institutions failed to adequately establish and corroborate the source of wealth of higher-risk clients, while five (Julius Baer, Blue Ocean Invest, Citi, Credit Suisse Singapore Branch and UOB Kay Hian) had shortcomings in customer risk assessment.
Credit Suisse Singapore Branch received the largest penalty, S$5.8 million, which also covered separate breaches between November 2017 and October 2023 relating to accounts maintained for certain US customers. CSSB is now part of UBS following Credit Suisse's rescue in 2023.
Eight of the nine institutions were found to have failed to review and act on suspicious transaction alerts.
UOB AND UOBKH FACE ADDITIONAL RISK MITIGATION FAILURE
UOB and its securities subsidiary UOB Kay Hian faced an additional finding: both institutions failed to implement risk mitigation measures after filing Suspicious Transaction Reports with the authorities.
MAS said the vigilance of financial institutions and their employees is critical in mitigating money-laundering risks.