Three news to start your week: January 22
Singapore minister resigns after being charged with corruption
(CNN)
Singapore's Transport Minister S. Iswaran resigned on Thursday following corruption charges, part of the most extensive corruption investigation to target Singapore's People's Action Party (PAP) in many years. It is a historic move for a city-state with pride in its spotless administration.
Iswaran is the country's first sitting minister charged with a criminal offense and is facing 27 charges, including obstruction of justice and corruption.
Charge sheets obtained by CNN revealed that among these were claims that he received more than 160,000 Singapore dollars ($119,000) in bribes from Malaysian billionaire Ong Beng Seng in exchange for furthering his business ventures. These presents were allegedly tickets to West End musicals, F1 Grand Prix, English Premier League games, and business class travel.
ICBC fined $32 million for compliance failures
(The Wall Street Journal)
The Federal Reserve and the New York State Department of Financial Services have reached settlements with the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank in the world by assets, for alleged compliance issues at the bank's New York branch; ICBC must pay about $32 million.
In response to a NYDFS investigation, which discovered shortcomings in ICBC's New York branch's anti-money-laundering and Bank Secrecy Act compliance programs between 2018 and 2022, ICBC has agreed to pay $30 million. For allegedly using and disclosing confidential supervisory information without authorization, the bank was fined an additional $2.4 million by the Federal Reserve.
Additionally, the NYDFS discovered that ICBC had promptly neglected to notify the NYDFS of the problem and that compliance documents were out of date.
J.P. Morgan to pay $18 million for whistleblower protection violations
(The Wall Street Journal)
A JPMorgan Chase subsidiary will pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $18 million to resolve allegations that it violated whistleblower protection laws, making it one of the largest fines the regulator has imposed under the rule.
According to allegations made by the SEC, J.P. Morgan Securities asked hundreds of advisory clients and brokerage customers—many of whom had disagreements or concerns with the company—to sign confidential release agreements that forbade them from informing regulators about possible securities law violations.
J.P. Morgan Securities allegedly solicited signatures from retail clients who had received a credit or settlement exceeding $1,000 between March 2020 and July 2023, requiring them to maintain the confidentiality of all information about their accounts and the underlying facts supporting their settlements. According to the SEC, at least 362 clients have signed these releases since 2020, with the sums they received varying from roughly $1,000 to $165,000.
