Singapore Crackdown Signals Cost Jump for Asia Private Banks
- Spending to curb money laundering forecast to reach record
- Singaporean regulator ordered BSI unit to close on May 24
Commercial buildings stand illuminated at night in the central business district of Singapore, on Saturday April 9, 2016. Singapore edged past Hong Kong as the world's No. 3 financial center. The Southeast Asian city-state ranks behind London and New York on the Global Financial Centres Index, according to a survey by London-based research firm Z/Yen Group.
Photographer: Sam Kang LiSingapore’s move to shut down scandal-plagued BSI Bank Ltd.’s operations in the country is reverberating through private banks facing surging costs to combat money laundering and protracted screening of new clients.
Financial-industry costs to curb money laundering were already forecast by LexisNexis Risk Solutions to reach a record $1.5 billion in Asia this year. Catering to Asia’s swelling ranks of wealthy individuals is one of the industry’s fastest-growing sectors, and banks such as Credit Suisse Group AG are investing more in that business.