Singapore and Hong Kong were the biggest destinations for suspect transactions in Asia, even though the financial centers saw just a small fraction of an estimated US$2 trillion in potentially dodgy money flows revealed in a report.
Singapore processed US$4.4 billion in suspicious flows through banks, including DBS Group Holdings Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB), the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) said in an investigation published on Sunday.
About US$4.1 billion was handled in Hong Kong by lenders including HSBC Holdings PLC and Deutsche Bank AG, the ICIJ said.
The two banking centers are followed by China and India in Asia in terms of the size of suspect flows, according to the report based on a trove of documents that was leaked to BuzzFeed News.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is “closely studying” the revelations and “will take appropriate action based on the outcome” of its review, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said that it was also aware of the report, but does not discuss individual cases.
The territory’s framework for combating money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism is “effective and in line with international standards,” a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
Bank shares were hammered by the revelations, which added to a litany of woes for HSBC, pushing Europe’s largest bank to the lowest in more than two decades.
Banks in Singapore also slid, with DBS’ shares extending their loss for the year to 24 percent yesterday. OCBC and UOB also closed slightly lower.
In an e-mailed statement, DBS said it has “zero tolerance for bad actors abusing the financial system,” but that it is “generally very difficult to delay or intercept money in transit given the impact on legitimate business” unless there are sanctions on names or account freezes.
OCBC and UOB said that their frameworks for detecting illicit flows are “robust.”
HSBC on Monday said it started a “multi-year journey” eight years ago to overhaul its ability to fight financial crime in more than 60 jurisdictions, making it “a much safer institution than it was in 2012.”
Deutsche Bank said that ICIJ raised “a number of historic issues” and those related to the bank are “well known” to regulators.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
RSS