US lender Merrill Lynch has been fined by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for permitting unappointed representatives to act on its behalf, the latest in a string of banks who have been reprimanded for this. 

On 19 December 2011, Merrill Lynch International Bank paid a composition amount of $27,000 for contravening the Securities and Futures Act, said MAS in a statement.

"The SFA provides that a principal shall not permit any individual to carry on business in any type of regulated activity on its behalf unless the individual is an appointed representative, provisional representative or temporary representative in respect of that type of regulated activity," said MAS.

Merrill Lynch permitted ninety of its representatives to conduct the regulated activity of fund management before the regulated activity was duly reflected against their names in the public register during the period from 26 November 2010 to 1 April 2011, said the statement.

Merrill has confirmed to MAS that the company has put in place relevant policies and procedures to prevent recurrence of such contravention.

The issue of unappointed representatives is a recurring problem that has affected about half of Singapore's wealth managers. Merrill Lynch is now the 19th financial institution to be censured for this in recent months. 

Yesterday MAS announced it had reprimanded the Royal Bank of Canada for a similar discrepancy.

 Others include United Overseas Bank, HSBC, OCBC, Citi, DBS, Barclays and Great Eastern Financial Advisers. Several institutions were heavily fined, including Citi which was hit with a $221,000 penalty in total for three violations.

Merrill did not return calls for comment.