Buyer Of Swiss Bank Linked To 1MDB Corruption Scandal Seeks Price Cut

Josh O'Neill

17 March 2017

The buyer of a Swiss bank that was last year exiled from Singapore amid global money laundering probes is seeking to slash the purchase price by around a quarter after the bank suffered nearly $5 billion in outflow in two months.

incurred SFr4.9 billion ($4.9 billion) in net asset outflows in the last two months of 2016, according to , ordered BSI to shut shop in the city-state over “serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements” and “gross misconduct by some of the bank’s staff”. BSI’s Singapore unit allegedly served as a transit point for money siphoned off from 1MDB.

Earlier this week, MAS announced plans to ban one former BSI employee, Yak Yew Chee, who was last year jailed for 18 weeks, for life from financial services, and to impose a 15-year ban on another former BSI employee Yvonne Seah, following investigations into “1MDB-related matters.” Seah joined her former boss in jail for two weeks and was fined nearly $7,000.