Six banks penalized in Singapore for AML breaches

Credit Suisse’s fine also accounts for separate breaches related to US customer accounts.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has taken regulatory action against six banks for anti-money laundering-related breaches.

Credit Suisse Singapore Branch received the largest fine of $4.55m (S$5.8m), followed by United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB), with a $4.39m (S$5.6m) fine.

Credit Suisse’ penalty also takes into account its breaches of MAS’ AML/CFT requirements between November 2017 to October 2013, in relation to accounts it maintains on behalf of certain US customers, according to MAS.

Other banks fined were UBS, Citi, Bank Julius Baer & Co., and LGT Bank (Singapore).

Nine financial institutions (FIs) were fined a total of $21.52m (S$27.45m) following the central bank’s completion of its supervisory examinations against FIs with “nexus to persons of interest (POIs)” related to a major money laundering case of August 2023.

Capital market service licence holders UOB Kay Hian and Blue Ocean Invest, and Trident Trust Company (Singapore), were also penalized.

MAS said that these FIs’ employees fell short of MAS’ anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements.

Five of the FIs— Bank Julius Baer, Blue Ocean Invest, Citi, Credit Suisse, and UOB Kay Hian—reportedly failed to implement adequate policies or processes for the rating of ML risks presented by some of their customers.

All nine FIs “did not detect or adequately follow up on significant discrepancies or red flags noted in information and documents” which MAS said should have cast doubt on some customers’ source of wealth.

With the exception of Blue Ocean Invest, eight of the FIs failed to "adequately review relevant transactions flagged as suspicious by their own systems.”

UOB and UOB Kay Hian are said to have failed adequate and timely risk mitigation measures such as enhanced monitoring and reviewing of risk classification.

(US$1 = S$1.28; as of 7 July 2025, Google, from Morningstar)