Singapore Banks Tighten Scrutiny After $2.23 Billion Money-Laundering Scandal
Singapore financial regulators found that bad actors successfully laundered a large amount of money via gambling methods & use of traditional financial systems.
On 10 June 2024, Bloomberg reported that a group of criminals laundered over $2.23 billion from online gambling through at least 16 financial institutions in Singapore.
In response, Singapore-based banks are intensifying their scrutiny of wealthy clients and prospective customers to prevent exposure to illicit money flows.
Investigation found that Citigroup Inc., DBS Group Holdings Ltd., and other big banks were involved in that big money-laundering scandal and now they are intensifying scrutiny of wealthy clients to prevent illicit activities.
Singapore’s financial regulators are providing additional training to private bankers to detect any kind of potential illicit activities.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is inspecting banks for compliance and may impose penalties. An inter-ministerial committee is reviewing Singapore’s anti-money laundering regime. Assets seized included cash, gold, jewellery, cars, and properties. Ten individuals have been convicted, with 17 others under investigation.
It is worth it to note that recently, we heard about the laundering of over $3 billion ($2.23 billion) from online gambling by Chinese criminals through 16 financial institutions.
Such high-level misuse of fiat currencies & traditional banking systems in illegal activities is very big proof that misuse of fiat currency & traditional financial systems is possible to a great extent.
Some crypto X users shared their opinion on this news and said that the traditional financial system should adopt crypto & blockchain-like transparent technology to modernise the traditional financial system & it will help to trace the transactions more easily to catch the bad actors involved in any illicit financial activities.
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