Two traders and an insurance agent, who were found to have engaged in dishonest conduct, were given prohibition orders ranging from two to four years.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued prohibition orders (POs) on three individuals working separately for Jefferies Singapore and Legacy FA for dishonest conduct, the financial regulatory authority said on Thursday.
Between May 2011 and December 2012, Jeremy Lee Seow Poh, managing director and head of sales for the fixed income desk for Jefferies Singapore, traded in bonds using his private banking account that was intentionally not disclosed to his employer.
False Information
He also colluded with Ong Eng Keong, the company's senior vice president, credit trading, to trade against Jefferies Singapore using privileged information which they obtained in their course of work and shared the trading profit. For this, they were issued POs of four years and two years respectively.
Insurance agent Yap Chee Hoe, who represented Legacy FA, between May and July 2017 forged the signatures of five individuals in their insurance application forms as he wanted to expedite their purchases of the insurance policies. He also provided false information about an individual’s health and employment status in one of the applications. He was issued with a PO lasting two years.
Proper Conduct
Under the PO, the three are all banned from performing any regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA), and from providing any financial advisory service under the Financial Advisors Act (FAA). They are also not allowed to take part in the management, acting as a director or becoming a substantial shareholder of any capital market services firm under the SFA and FAA.
«MAS expects financial service professionals to uphold high standards of integrity and proper conduct. Professionals who fall short of these standards must be dealt with firmly to safeguard public trust in our financial institutions,» Lee Boon Ngiap, Assistant Managing Director (Capital Markets), MAS, said.
Enforcement Objectives
In March, MAS issued its inaugural enforcement report detailing actions taken against breaches of rules and regulations in the 18 months to December 2018.
It said that enforcement actions lasting till mid-2020 would focus on corporate disclosures, business conduct of financial advisers and their representatives, AML/CFT compliance among financial institutions, internal controls at brokerage houses, as well as insider trading.
