In a statement today (29 October), the MAS said it had also issued a reprimand to AAIM’s chief executive officer, Mr Mintarja Oei, for failing to ensure AAIM’s compliance with MAS’ AML/CFT requirements.

MAS’ inspection of AAIM found that the company’s internal policy and procedures at the material time were inadequate. This led to multiple breaches of MAS’ AML/CFT requirements from June 2015 to October 2020, putting the firm at risk of being misused for financial crime. The breaches included AAIM’s failure to:

(a) Implement adequate processes to detect and report suspicious and unusually large customer transactions with third parties. As a result, AAIM processed several such transactions without taking adequate steps to verify the purported relationships between its customers and the third parties;

(b) Implement appropriate internal procedures to determine if business relations with customers presented a higher risk of ML/TF. Consequently, AAIM did not properly assess the ML/TF risks posed by its customers or take the appropriate risk mitigation measures to address tax-related ML risk;

(c) Implement appropriate internal risk management systems and procedures to determine if customers and related persons were politically exposed persons (PEPs) or close associates of PEPs. As a result, AAIM did not identify several customers to be PEPs and failed to perform enhanced customer due diligence measures; and

(d) Implement adequate internal procedures to keep records of documents and information that AAIM was required to obtain from customers to meet AML/CFT requirements. As a result, AAIM did not record the identities of several customers’ beneficial owners (BOs) and failed to keep up-to-date documents to verify BOs’ identities

MAS found that AAIM’s key breaches are attributable to Mr Oei, as CEO of AAIM, failing to ensure that AAIM’s compliance with MAS’ AML/CFT requirements. MAS has therefore issued a reprimand to Mr Oei.

MAS further noted that AAIM has since taken remedial actions to address the deficiencies that have been identified.

The regulator said quantum technology is a rapidly advancing field that holds significant potential to transform the financial industry and broader economy.

MAS has been collaborating with the National Quantum Office following the announcement of the National Quantum Strategy by deputy prime minister Heng Swee Keat in May 2024. MAS will establish a Quantum track under FSTI 3.0 to support financial institutions’ interests to build quantum capabilities in Singapore.

There are three types of grants:

Technology Centres grant – This supports the establishment of quantum computing and security innovation functions in Singapore, to enable financial institutions and global technology companies to explore and unlock new opportunities arising from quantum technologies. This grant will provide funding support of up to 50% on manpower and other qualifying expenses such as hard/software infrastructure, subscriptions and licenses, for a period of 24 months.

Technology Innovation grant – This comprises two sub-tracks to support adoption of quantum technology solutions by financial institutions. The first sub-track aims to catalyse meaningful institutional use cases that bring about significant impact to business. The second sub-track will support strategic endeavours to solve relevant industry-wide problem statements. Up to 50% co-funding support will be provided to advance the exploration and implementation of such quantum solutions.

Security grant – This aims to enhance cyber security readiness to better prepare our financial infrastructure and services for the quantum era. Funding support of up to 30% will be provided to enable experimentation and development of quantum technology-related pilots that explore the use of Post-quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to safeguard firms’ critical data.

MAS will also work with Institutes of Higher Learning and the Institute of Banking and Finance on talent development initiatives to support the development of quantum capabilities in the financial services sector.

The statement further said that while financial institutions have been progressively adopting AI, recent technological advancements have made such tools more widely accessible and increased the pace of adoption. With the advent of Generative AI, financial institutions have embarked on initiatives to map the technology’s opportunities and risks, and have begun piloting it across a range of use cases. Nevertheless, the level of AI-readiness and adoption varies across financial institutions in Singapore.

The aim was to “bolster financial institutions’ development and deployment of AI technologies in Singapore – Singapore has the potential to become a centre of excellence for anchoring AI capabilities, such as in the development of applications, as well as testing and deployment of AI solutions for the financial sector. MAS will support financial institutions in establishing AI innovation centres in Singapore for a range of functions including: AI model building and training, deployment of AI models for high-impact use cases, governance and risk management, as well as testing and monitoring.

“Develop AI platforms to address industry wide use cases – There are strong prospects for the financial industry to apply AI to solve industry-wide problems beyond what each financial institution can do individually. This involves the development of frameworks and platforms for policies and protocols that enable secure and privacy-protected data exchange where financial institutions can collaborate on industry-wide use cases.

“For example, MAS has identified scam and fraud detection as a use case for the first pilot project, and will work with banks, technology solution providers and public agencies on this. The funding will support projects that accelerate the development of industry-wide AI solutions and high-impact use cases.”

More details on the enhanced support for AI will be announced in the coming months, the regulator concluded.

Harpreet Bindra has been named as chief executive of HSBC Life (Singapore).

He will succeed Ho Lee Yen, who has decided to spend more time with her family, having successfully completed the integration of the businesses of AXA Singapore and HSBC Insurance.

Bindra joined HSBC in 2018.

Ocorian

The financial services provider has appointed Chantal Free as chief executive.

Free joins Ocorian from Capita, where she was chief executive of its portfolio division.

Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG)

The group has appointed Richard Harrison as chief executive.

He will join SBG from Wesleyan Assurance Society, where he is currently chief distribution officer.

Harrison joins SBG on 2 January 2024, at which point current interim chief executive John Cowan will resume his role as chair of the SBG board.

Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma)

Urban Angehrn will step down at the end of September 2023 as chief executive.

It has appointed deputy chief executive Birgit Rutishauser as chief executive ad interim with effect from 1 October 2023.

Angehrn will be at her disposal to ensure an orderly handover of all business and for follow-up to the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS.

The board of directors has begun the process of filling the position of Finma chief executive.

Amundi

The asset manager has named Pierre Jond as chief executive of Amundi Luxembourg and chairman of Fund Channel, the B2B fund distribution platform jointly owned by Amundi and Caceis.

Before joining Amundi, Jond was head of France and Belgium region with BNP Paribas Securities Services.

Jond replaces Jeanne Duvoux, who has been appointed head of business support and operations for Amundi Group.

Fairstone Group

Peter Donaldson has been named as managing director of the firm’s partnership channel.

He moves from his current role as a Fairstone divisional director. Donaldson joined the business in 2021.

St James’s Place (SJP)

Joe Wiggins has been named as director of investment research for the wealth manager.

He will join SJP on 12 September and previously worked as chief investment officer at Fundhouse.

Seven Investment Management (7IM)

The wealth manager has appointed Agustin Fernandez as managing director for corporate and strategy development.

He joins from HSBC, where he was head of Emea wealth and asset management wealth tech within the investment banking division for four years. Fernandez joined HSBC in 2011.

Professional Wealth Management

The IWP-owned firm has hired Alex Tait and Will Welch as financial advisers.

The duo were previously professional rugby players for Newcastle Falcons.

Ascot Lloyd

The IFA group has appointed Jaco Cebula as group technology officer.

For the past 18 months, Cebula has worked closely with the Ascot Lloyd team in his role as a technology consultant for Sionic, a global consulting firm.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

The Singapore regulator has appointed Chia Der Jiun as managing director.

Chia takes over from Ravi Menon, who will retire from the Singapore Public Service and step down as managing director.

He is currently Permanent Secretary (Development) at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), had previously spent 18 years at MAS, where he played a leadership role across MAS’ major functions, including monetary policy implementation, reserve management, banking supervision, prudential policy, and macroeconomic surveillance.

Nedgroup Investments

The global asset manager has expanded its international distribution team with the hiring of Rachel Ferguson as client solutions lead, effective September.

Prior to joining Nedgroup, Ferguson worked as a business development manager at Aegon Asset Management (formally Kames Capital) and was with the firm for a total of seven years.

Rothschild & Co

The financial services giant has hired Alfredo Pérez de Quesada Garrido as a senior client adviser in Spain.

He has over 18 years’ experience in the financial industry and joins from Credit Suisse (Madrid).

Also, Rothschild & Co has hired five client advisers in its wealth management business in Zurich, to focus mainly on clients from Central and Eastern Europe. The new team joins from Credit Suisse.

The team is headed by Gerold Reiser, who has over 18 years’ experience as a private banker.

Alongside Reiser, the four other client advisers joining Rothschild & Co are Maciej Wiackowski, Magdalena Majewska Koch, Viktors Bolbats and Lars Lang.

Square Mile

The research and consulting firm has appointed Maria Mealing as a business development director.

Mealing has over 30 years’ industry experience, most recently as associate director at Janus Henderson.

Walker Crips Financial Planning

Matthew Crawshaw and Kaz Dev have joined the firm as regional director for the Midlands and assistant director in the south west region, respectively.

Crawshaw joins from Abrdn, where he was regional director for the north and midlands.

Dev joins from Francis Clark Financial Planning, where he served as head of professional services and chartered financial planner.

Third Financial

The investment platform has named David Lewis as chairman of its regulated entity Third Platform Services.

Most recently, he was managing director at BNY Mellon in London.

The changes seek to raise industry standards by requiring financial institutions to put in place additional controls when engaging in prospecting and marketing activities through both physical and digital means.

The MAS eyes changes including:

• For physical prospecting at public places, existing safeguards such as the disclosure of representatives’ identities and the financial institutions they represent will be made mandatory. In addition, financial institutions can only conduct prospecting activities at commercial premises. They will also need to provide customers with additional time to consider whether to make a purchase, and limit the use of gift offers which may influence decision-making; and
• For digital marketing, financial institutions will need to strengthen controls over online advertisements to avoid disseminating misleading content. They must also tighten practices when appointing third party service providers to generate leads online through the dissemination of online advertisements and collection of prospective customers’ contact information.

Lim Tuang Lee, assistant managing director for capital markets at the MAS, said: “We want consumers to receive accurate information, professional advice, and be given sufficient time and space to consider their financial decisions. The proposals to strengthen responsible prospecting and marketing activities by financial institutions will support these goals, and better protect consumers’ interests.”

MAS is inviting comments on the proposals by 30 June 2023.

Raj Sriram has been issued a 24-month conditional warning from the police and a 10-year prohibition order from the regulator over failures related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

According to the MAS and SPF, he did not file suspicious reports regarding transactions related to 1MDB.

The investigation by the police’s commercial affairs department (CAD) discovered that there were grounds for this type of reports to be submitted as part of money laundering prevention and counter-terrorism financing measures.

The two authorities said the failure to file the reports was attributed to Sriram’s neglect.

Enforcement

Under the conditional warning – which was issued instead of prosecution – the former deputy chief executive will need to:

• Pay S$150,000 (£94,237, $104,577, €107,304) to the Singapore government’s consolidated fund; and
• Refrain from any criminal conduct for 24 months, continue his co-operation with the police in its 1MDB investigations, and not accept any directorships or senior positions for four years – the period started in September 2021.

On the other hand, the MAS’ prohibition order took effect on 10 October 2022 and bans Sriram from providing financial advice and taking part in the management of or becoming a shareholder of any financial advisory firm.

Ho Hern Shin, deputy managing director of financial supervision at the MAS, said: “BSIS, of which Mr Sriram was deputy CEO and head of private banking, was a key conduit for tainted funds in the 1MDB debacle. MAS withdrew BSIS’ licence in May 2016 due to serious and repeated breaches of AML/CFT requirements.

“The ultimate responsibility for ensuring a financial institution’s compliance with AML/CFT laws and regulations rests with its board of directors and senior management. MAS will take to task errant board and senior management members whose failures result in their financial institutions violating laws and regulations.”

David Chew, director of CAD, added: “The suspicious transaction reporting (STR) regime is a key pillar of Singapore’s approach to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. The Singapore authorities take a serious view of the obligation to file such reports, and strongly urge reporting entities to remain vigilant in detecting and reporting suspicious transactions.

“Officers of a financial institution are responsible for upholding the STR regime. The Singapore authorities will not hesitate to take firm action against reporting entities or their officers, who intentionally or negligently fail to file suspicious transaction reports when legally obliged to do so.”