Singapore Fines Three Banks in 1MDB Investigation

SINGAPORE—Singapore's central bank on Tuesday said it would withdraw the license of a Swiss private bank operating in the city-state and fine two large banks as part of a wide-ranging investigation into fund flows related to Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it would fine DBS Bank Ltd. and UBS Group AG's Singapore branch 1 million Singapore dollars (US$726,126) and S$1.3 million, respectively, for failures of anti-money-laundering controls.

The central bank said it would also withdraw the merchant banking license of Falcon Private Bank's Singapore branch for "persistent and severe lack of understanding" of its regulations.

"Keeping Singapore a clean and trusted financial center is a shared responsibility," MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon said in a statement. He said senior management at banks "must set the tone from the top—that profits do not come before right conduct."

UBS, via a spokesperson, said: "We are disappointed we did not do more to detect and report this earlier. We are further strengthening our controls and appropriate action will be taken on individuals responsible for the lapses."

Representatives from DBS and Falcon didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gaurav Raghuvanshi and Saurabh Chaturvedi contributed to this article.

Write to Jake Maxwell Watts at [e-mail] and P.R. Venkat at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 10, 2016 22:15 ET (02:15 GMT)

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