Credit Suisse penalised $3 mn after probe by Singapore authorities

Credit Suisse has been penalized S$3.9 million ($3 million) by Singapore’s authorities after a probe found the lender failed to prevent or detect misconduct by its relationship managers.
 

The bankers had provided clients with inaccurate or incomplete post-trade disclosures, resulting in customers being charged spreads which were above bilaterally agreed rates for 39 over-the-counter bond transactions, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement on Thursday. 
 

It added that the bank has paid the penalty and separately compensated its affected clients. The firm, which has been taken over by Swiss rival UBS Group AG, has since strengthened its internal controls, the MAS said. 
 

The action on Credit Suisse follows its review of pricing and disclosure practices in the private banking industry, according to the MAS. The regulator said that its investigations revealed that Credit Suisse had failed to put in place adequate controls, such as post-trade monitoring, to prevent or detect the bankers’ misconduct. 
 

“We are pleased to resolve this past matter with the MAS following a series of independent reviews,” Credit Suisse said in an emailed statement. 
 

“We have since reimbursed affected clients, which are limited to a very small percentage of the bank’s order processing system,” the bank said. “We have taken steps to enhance our policies, procedures and controls to mitigate any recurrence.”
 

The penalty in Singapore is the latest headache UBS has to deal with as it focuses on integrating thousands of employees from its former rival across the world, with the episode casting questions over the acquired firm’s internal controls.
 

Earlier this year, the MAS planned to conduct an on-site inspection of Credit Suisse, among other banks, after at least one of its customers was charged for money laundering in the city-state, Bloomberg News reported in October. A few years ago, the firm was fined S$700,000 by the MAS for its role in the 1MDB saga, Malaysia’s biggest corruption case. That was the smallest penalty the regulator imposed on banks in Singapore at the time.