The latest compliance news: regulatory developments, punishments, guidance, permissions and new product and service offerings.

Asiaciti Trust yesterday said that it has “fully addressed” anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism control failings after Singapore regulators fined the firm S$1.0 million earlier this week.

“We have resolved a matter with the Monetary Authority of Singapore that specifically relates to our Singapore office failing to meet the MAS’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism controls and procedures requirements in the period prior to early 2018,” the firm said in a statement. 

MAS punished the business after it had found “serious breaches” during an inspection, the regulator said. The failings covered a period of 11 years up to 2018.

“ATSPL [Asiaciti Trust] did not implement adequate AML/CFT policies and procedures, and did not subject its AML/CFT controls to independent audits. These failings hindered ATSPL’s ability to detect and mitigate ML/TF risks associated with its higher-risk customers,” MAS said.

“Financial institutions must play their part in detecting and disrupting attempts to abuse our financial system for illicit purposes. Trust companies are required to implement robust AML/CFT controls, with policies and processes that effectively mitigate risks from vehicles or trust structures of customers . MAS will not hestitate to take action against FIs that fail to meet the standard required under our AML/CFT regulations,” Loo Siew Yee, assistant managing director (Policy, Payments & Financial Crime), MAS, said.

The Singapore regulator has cracked down on such failings in recent years. Most dramatically, it kicked Falcon Private Bank and BSI, the private banks, out of the Asian jurisdiction about five years ago over failings linked to illicit funds funnelled via Malayisa’s 1MDB. 

The saga is another reminder of how AML and related controls are a major pain point for the world’s wealth management industry, spawning fintech and related firms such as smartKYC to alert bankers and others about potential problems. (See an interview here.) 

In its statement, Asiaciti Trust said: “These isolated AML/CFT control and procedural issues have been fully addressed, and since 2018, the Singapore office’s new management team has enhanced internal compliance and governance systems to fully meet the requirements. We are pleased to have resolved this matter with the MAS and look forward to continuing to provide the exceptional client service, responsiveness and independence that we have always been known for.”

MAS added that its penalty took into account the firm’s response to MAS’ findings. “ATSPL has taken remedial measures to address the deficiencies identified by MAS, including conducting a review of customer accounts and transactions, terminating a number of higher-risk trust accounts and filing suspicious transaction reports,” it said.