The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed composition penalties amounting to S$960,000 in total on five Major Payment Institutions (MPIs), which are licensed to provide cross-border money transfer services, for breaches of MAS’ Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements.

The breaches were identified during MAS’ examinations of the MPIs’ compliance with the requirements of MAS Notice PSN01 on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism – Specified Payment Services. The MPIs were found to have inadequate AML/CFT controls in place, resulting in multiple breaches of AML/CFT requirements.

• Remsea Pte Ltd: a composition penalty of S$280,000 was imposed on Remsea for breaches which took place between August 2020 to August 2023.
• Arcade Plaza Traders Pte Ltd (APT): a composition penalty of S$260,000 was imposed on APT for breaches which took place between March 2020 to August 2023.
• J-Dee Remittance Services Pte Ltd: a composition penalty of S$170,000 was imposed on J-Dee for breaches which took place between July 2022 to August 2023.
• Mobile Community Tech Pte Ltd (MCT): a composition penalty of S$140,000 was imposed on MCT for breaches which took place between September 2021 to July 2023.
• OxPay SG Pte Ltd: a composition penalty of $110,000 was imposed on OxPay for breaches which took place between May 2021 to November 2022.

Overall, the breaches exposed the MPIs to the risk of being used as a conduit for financial crime. The failure to conduct adequate customer due diligence measures impedes MPIs’ ability to properly assess and mitigate the ML/TF risks associated with its customers. Additionally, the failure to provide information relating to wire transfer originators and wire transfer beneficiaries of cross-border wire transfers undermines the transparency and traceability of the movement of funds.

MAS expects the senior management of financial institutions to play an active role to oversee the implementation of adequate AML/CFT controls and ensure the sustained effectiveness of its remediation measures. The MPIs have established plans to remediate the findings and MAS will monitor their progress closely.