The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed a composition penalty of S$1.9 million on Atrium Asia Investment Management Pte. Ltd. (AAIM) for breaches of MAS’ anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements. MAS has also issued a reprimand to AAIM’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Mintarja Oei, for failing to ensure AAIM’s compliance with MAS’ AML/CFT requirements.
2. MAS’ inspection of AAIM found that the Company’s internal policy and procedures at the material time were inadequate. This led to multiple breaches of MAS’ AML/CFT requirements from June 2015 to October 2020, putting the firm at risk of being misused for financial crime. The breaches included AAIM’s failure to:
(a) Implement adequate processes to detect and report suspicious and unusually large customer transactions with third parties. As a result, AAIM processed several such transactions without taking adequate steps to verify the purported relationships between its customers and the third parties;
(b) Implement appropriate internal procedures to determine if business relations with customers presented a higher risk of ML/TF. Consequently, AAIM did not properly assess the ML/TF risks posed by its customers or take the appropriate risk mitigation measures to address tax-related ML risk;
(c) Implement appropriate internal risk management systems and procedures to determine if customers and related persons were politically exposed persons (PEPs) or close associates of PEPs. As a result, AAIM did not identify several customers to be PEPs and failed to perform enhanced customer due diligence measures; and
(d) Implement adequate internal procedures to keep records of documents and information that AAIM was required to obtain from customers to meet AML/CFT requirements. As a result, AAIM did not record the identities of several customers’ beneficial owners (BOs) and failed to keep up-to-date documents to verify BOs’ identities
3. MAS found that AAIM’s key breaches are attributable to Mr Oei, as CEO of AAIM, failing to ensure that AAIM’s compliance with MAS’ AML/CFT requirements. MAS has therefore issued a reprimand to Mr Oei.
4. MAS notes that AAIM has since taken remedial actions to address the deficiencies that have been identified.
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Additional Information:
Composition of AML/CFT offences
MAS’ AML/CFT requirements for capital markets intermediaries are set out in Notice SFA04-N02 on Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism – Capital Markets Intermediaries. Each breach of Notice SFA04-N02 is an offence punishable under section 27B(2) of the MAS Act (Cap. 186), where the maximum prescribed fine is S$1 million per offence. The breach is compounded under section 176(1A) of the MAS Act 1970.
Reprimand of the director – section 334(1) of the Securities and Futures Act 2001 (SFA)
MAS has the powers under section 334(1) of the SFA to reprimand an FI regulated by MAS, as well as its key officers.
