Singapore fines Standard Chartered over money laundering breaches

Philippe Lopez | AFP | Getty Images

A pedestrian walks past a branch of Standard Chartered bank in Hong Kong on February 23, 2016.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed penalties of S$5.2 million ($3.95 million) on the Singapore branch of Standard Chartered Bank (SCBC) and S$1.2 million on Standard Chartered Trust (Singapore) Ltd (SCTS) for anti-money laundering breaches and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements.

In a statement on Monday, MAS said the breaches occurred when trust accounts of SCBS’ customers were transferred from Standard Chartered Trust (Guernsey) to SCTS from December 2015 to January 2016.

Standard Chartered said in a statement: “We regret that we fell short of our own standards in adequately mitigating the risks involving some clients who might have attempted to avoid reporting obligations under the Common Reporting Standard by transferring their trusteeships between December 2015 and January 2016.”