Singapore CB returns up to $9b to banks in rate probe

To maintain a clean financial environment.

Singapore’s central bank gave back as much as S$12 billion ($9.3 billion) that it took from 19 lenders last year as a penalty for trying to manipulate benchmark interest rates.

Bllomberg reports that the banks have taken steps to prevent a recurrence of attempts to rig rates, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in an e-mailed statement today. UBS AG (UBSN), Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and ING Group NV were among firms asked to post reserves ranging from S$100 million to S$1.2 billion for a year at zero interest in June 2013.

“It sends a strong message about Singapore’s determination to maintain the cleanest financial environment it can manage,” said Lachlan Colquhoun, head of markets analysis at research firm East & Partners in Sydney. “That said, the timing is now right and the point has been made, so it is a good gesture now to return the funds, particularly at a time when banks will need to shore up capital.”

View the full report here.

The people you want to reach are already in this room.

Every quarter, SBR lands on the desks of the founders, CFOs, and directors running Asia's most consequential companies. Every day, they open our newsletter and read our website. It's a room that took twenty years to build — and it's the one most of our partners are trying to get into.

The good news is that the door is open. We work with companies on thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The shape of the right partnership depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If you have something this room should know about, tell us. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia