Singapore’s financial regulator plans to hold senior bankers accountable for failings on their watch. The move follows regulatory soul-searching after 1MDB, the biggest scandal to hit the city-state's financial center.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore wants to strengthen the individual accountability of senior managers and raise standards of conduct in financial institutions in the city-state, the regulator said in a statement on Friday.
The move follows a nearly two-year regulatory clean-up of the 1MDB scandal in Singapore, which saw two Swiss banks sent shut down and several bankers jailed. While the regulatory side is concluded, Singaporean prosecutors are still probing at least one Swiss banker, as finews.asia reported earlier this week.
«Persistent misconduct and a lack of individual accountability by persons in charge will erode public confidence in our financial institutions», MAS' head of financial supervision, Ong Chong Tee, said in a statement. «We expect the boards and senior management of financial institutions to instill a strong culture of responsibility and ethical conduct.»
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Under MAS' proposals, finance firms would be required to identify senior managers who are responsible for core management functions and to clearly specify their individual accountabilities. The effort would bring Singapore into line with other major financial centers, where bankers must demonstrate fitness and probity.
Finance firms will be required to ensure that senior managers are fit for their roles, and to hold them individually responsible for the actions of their staff and the conduct of business. The proposals for accountability, a key part of MAS' efforts to foster ethical behavior and responsible risk-taking in Singapore's financial industry, will be implemented in the fourth quarter.
