If Singapore's financial authorities won plaudits for its handling of banks involved in the 1MDB scandal, it is now under fire for hesitating on an embattled commodities broker in the city-state.
Singapore's regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore or MAS, was widely credited with cleaning up the fallout from scandal-tarnished 1MDB in the city-state's banks and financial firms.
With observers looking to the city-state's response to the first major crisis of its financial center, MAS didn't hesitate to jail executives including one Swiss banker and shut two firms down: Banca della Svizzera Italiana (BSI) and Falcon Private Bank, an Abu Dhabi-owned Swiss private bank.
So far, so good? Not entirely: MAS is now being panned for its slow, hesitant handling of a Singapore commodities firm which is «sinking,» in the words of a critic.
MAS Criticism
Noble Group's dwindling fortunes amid a massive cash burn and losses has led to critcism of its regulatory oversight by Iceberg Research, which runs a Wordpress blog to «identify substantial earnings misrepresentation and accounting irregularities in financial statements issued by public companies.»
Responding to months of criticism by Iceberg that it could have done more to protect investors in the prolonged Noble saga, MAS said it would follow up and investigate and allegations of irregularities with listed companies, according to a report in the «Business Times».
Noble at the Abyss
Noble is now in a position where it must watch its cash in order to avert a liquidity crunch or even default, according to brokerage analysts.
«MAS will also investigate potential breaches of the law that have been referred to us. Should MAS's own investigations uncover any violations of our regulations, we will not hesitate to take the necessary enforcement actions,» the newspaper reported.
Iceberg had earlier decried MAS' «complete failure» to act on Noble, allowing the commodities trader instead to raise money based on a balance sheet which had already been questioned.
Tarnished MAS?
Singapore's stock exchange, the SGX, defended itself, saying it has applied to same approach to companies subject to criticism.
«The company has the right of first reply and should respond as quickly and comprehensively as possible,» a spokesman for the exchange operator said.
The Noble saga is far from over, but the regulator's reputation could be tarnished if the criticism is born out in the investigation.
