MAS Fines Handful of Payment Firms Over AML Failures
Several payment institutions have been fined by Singapore’s financial regulator over anti-money laundering failures, including inadequate customer due diligence.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has fined five Major Payment Institutions (MPI) a total of S$960,000 ($753,000) over breaches of requirements for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering financing of terrorism (CFT) requirements, according to a statement. The firms penalized include Remsea – the one that received the largest fine at S$280,000 – Arcade Plaza Traders, J-Dee Remittance Services, Mobile Community Tech and OxPay SG.
A range of issues were identified including inadequately conducted due diligence of customers, and failure to provide information relating to wire transfer originators and beneficiaries of cross-border wire transfers.
«The MPIs were found to have inadequate AML/CFT controls in place, resulting in multiple breaches of AML/CFT requirements,» the regulator said.
Remediation Plans
According to MAS, the MPIs have established plans to remediate the findings and its senior managers are expected to play an active role in overseeing the implementation controls while progress is monitored.
«To provide further guidance to the industry, MAS will be publishing an information paper to set out common issues noted, MAS’ supervisory expectations, and areas for improvement uncovered from MAS’ recent examinations of MPIs,» the regulator added.
