Singapore: Singapore's central bank on Tuesday shut down a second Swiss bank under investigation for alleged money laundering activities linked to Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it had ordered Falcon Bank to cease its operations in the city-state because of serious lapses in anti money laundering controls.
"Falcon Bank has demonstrated a persistent and severe lack of understanding of MAS' (anti money laundering) requirements and expectations," MAS said in a statement.
Singapore, a regional financial hub, launched a probe into fund flows linked to 1MDB in 2015.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who founded 1MDB, has been embroiled in the scandal but has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
MAS announced that it has also fined local bank DBS and Swiss lender UBS for similar violations.
"The control lapses observed in DBS and UBS relate to specific bank officers who failed to carry out their duties effectively," the MAS said, adding that it did not find "pervasive control weaknesses" in these banks.
DBS was ordered to pay Sg$1 million ($730,000) for 10 violations while UBS was ordered to pay Sg$1.3 million for 13 breaches.
The regulator had in May kicked out Swiss bank BSI for similar violations, the first time it ordered a bank to shut in 32 years.
Bank senior management "must set the tone from the top -- that profits do not come before right conduct", said MAS chief Ravi Menon.
The MAS also said that it is in the final stages of assessment for the Singapore branch of Standard Chartered Bank, and has referred Raffles Money Change, a local financial company, for investigation by the Commercial Affairs Department.
MAS said clients are assured that Falcon Bank, which is a branch of Falcon Private Bank Ltd in Switzerland, "has the full support of its head office which is financially sound".
Falcon Private Bank is owned by the International Petroleum Investment Company from Abu Dhabi, one of the world's leading sovereign wealth funds.
