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SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday (September 21) that it is “closely studying” media reports mentioning Singaporean banks in potentially suspicious transactions that were brought to the attention of US authorities. .
In response to the CNA’s inquiries, he added that it will take “appropriate action” based on the outcome of its review.
Over the weekend, media reports, citing leaked secret documents that were confidential reports made to the U.S. government, said that world banks have provided more than $ 2 trillion ($ 2.72 trillion). Singapore dollars) in “suspicious” transactions filed with US authorities for nearly two decades. .
READ: FinCEN documents allegedly show banks moved illicit funds
The three local banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB, were named in a sample of transactions drawn from the documents, called “FinCEN Archives.”
The MAS said it is aware that Singapore banks were mentioned in these media reports.
“While suspicious transaction reports by themselves do not imply that the transactions are illegal, MAS takes such reports very seriously,” the spokesperson wrote in an email response.
“MAS is closely studying the information in these media reports and will take appropriate action based on the outcome of our review. Singapore’s regulatory framework to combat money laundering complies with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force, “he added.
WHAT ARE FINCEN FILES?
The media reports that emerged over the weekend were based in part on leaked documents called Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) that banks and other financial institutions filed in the United States with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the United States. United States Department of the Treasury (FinCEN).
US financial firms are required to submit such reports to US authorities when they detect activities that may be suspicious, such as money laundering or fraud, although they may not necessarily be evidence of wrongdoing or crime.
BuzzFeed News obtained more than 2,100 of these SARs and shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ then assembled a team of more than 400 journalists from 110 news organizations in 88 countries to investigate the documents.
The ICIJ report, which followed a 16-month investigation, said SARs contained information showing suspicious transactions worth more than US $ 2 trillion between 1999 and 2017.
Germany’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, reportedly facilitated more than half of these reported transactions to the US authorities. Other global banks that appeared most frequently in the archives were Bank of New York Mellon, Standard Chartered, JPMorgan and HSBC, according to the report.
The ICIJ also noted that, while the RAS reflect the concerns of watchdogs within banks, “they are not necessarily evidence of criminal conduct or other irregularities.”
A map posted on the ICIJ website sought to represent the movements of “a fraction” of the transactions found in the “FinCEN Archives.”
“The map only shows cases where sufficient details were available about originating and beneficiary banks, and is designed to illustrate how potentially dirty money flows from one country to another around the world, through banks based in United States, ”the ICIJ said, noting that the map illustrates 18,153 transactions worth more than $ 35 billion that were flagged as“ suspicious ”between 2000 and 2017.
TRANSACTIONS THROUGH SINGAPORE
A total of 1,781 transactions flowed through Singapore, with nearly US $ 3 billion entering the country and about US $ 1.5 billion leaving, according to the ICIJ map.
A screenshot of the transaction map from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists website.
DBS and UOB each accounted for more than 500 of these “potentially suspicious” transactions, while OCBC had 62 transactions that took place between 2000 and 2017.
The three banks were listed multiple times on the ICIJ map. In one such entry, it was said that $ 596.8 million was sent from DBS, and that $ 228.3 million was transferred to the bank in 461 transactions.
The ICIJ map also contained examples of how transactions flowed between Singapore, the United States and 46 other countries, although it did not indicate the reasons why they were potentially suspicious.
For example, on February 5, 2014, around $ 40 million was transferred from Swiss bank BSI to DBS in a single transaction.
Just over US $ 20 million was transferred from OCBC Wing Hang Bank Limited, OCBC’s Hong Kong subsidiary, to DBS through two transactions from November 22 to December 22, 2016.
In another example, 29 transactions totaling US $ 24.4 million were made from Russia’s Specsetstroybank to UOB from July 10 to August 19, 2013.
Other foreign banks with offices in Singapore that were named include CIMB and Deutsche Bank.
For example, in 294 suspicious transactions between 2000 and 2017, US $ 250.4 million were sent from CIMB, with US $ 34.3 million moving in the other direction.
LOCAL BANKS SAY
When contacted, a DBS spokesperson said that the bank has “zero tolerance for bad actors who abuse the financial system” and is teaming up with the financial industry to collaborate with authorities to seize funds and disrupt criminal networks.
“We note that outside of naming penalties or specific account freezes, it is generally very difficult to delay or intercept money in transit due to the impact on legitimate business, so the normal process, which occurs behind the scenes, involves further investigations to establish suspicions, based on which the necessary actions are taken, “added the spokesperson.
OCBC said it has a “comprehensive and robust” anti-money laundering and terrorist financing (AML / CFT) framework across the group, comprising methodologies and programs that “fully comply” with local regulations and incorporate local regulations. international best practices.
“We recognize that money laundering is an area of growing concern and we have invested and will continue to invest substantially in technology to develop data analytics capabilities to improve and optimize our competencies in early identification of money laundering,” said the head of the group. OCBC AML. / CFT Fairlen Ooi.
This includes the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect suspicious transactional activities, as well as the formation of specialized teams that include data scientists and IT engineers, Ms Ooi said.
Similarly, UOB said it has “strong prevention, detection and enforcement measures” in place when it comes to combating money laundering.
This includes risk assessment, customer and counterparty due diligence, transaction monitoring, as well as investigating and reporting potential suspicious activity to relevant regulatory bodies, said its head of group compliance Victor Ngo.
“We continue to enhance our anti-money laundering capabilities through the use of technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning,” he added.
SARs are equivalent to a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in Singapore,that banks file with the Department of Commercial Affairs (CAD).
A STR contains financial information and is presented when there is reason to believe that the funds involved are related to crimes such as money laundering or terrorist financing.
CAD’s Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office received 32,660 such reports in 2018, up from 35,471 in 2017, according to the latest CAD annual report released in September last year.
Banks submitted the majority of STRs in 2018, with 16,314 reports made.
