Tuesday 27 December 2016

Singapore. Malaysia. Ironic

Is the 1996 hit for Alanis Morissette, taken from her best selling album, jagged little pill.

Singapore's monetary authority might be feeling like having one of those jagged little pill , considering that Malaysians have topped the bad behaviour list on the island state.

Bloomberg has the story. Read below :

The naughty list for Singapore financiers has rarely been so long.

From the 1Malaysia Development Bhd.-linked scandal to a 333-count front-running case and the largest market-manipulation prosecution in Singapore’s history, this year’s allegations of MALAYSiAN moneymen behaving badly have put the city-state’s image as a squeaky-clean financial hub to the test.

Regulators have responded with their busiest year of enforcement actions, shutting the local units of two Swiss banks, fining some of the world’s biggest lenders and seizing S$240 million ($166 million) of assets. Ravi Menon, the head of Singapore’s central bank, summed up the city’s mood as the 1MDB-related cases escalated in July: “We can do better.”

The stakes could hardly be higher for a city that relies on finance for 13 percent of its economy and has 200,000 jobstied to the industry. With exports sliding and the local oil services industries in a slump, Singapore needs to protect the reputation of its financial sector as it grapples with the weakest economic growth since 2009.