Singaporean Regulator Lifts Ban On DBS, RBS And Maybank

Vanessa Doctor

15 February 2010

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has lifted the ban on three of the ten financial institutions prohibited from selling structured notes in the wake of the Lehman Brothers minibond crisis.

DBS Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Malayan Banking are now allowed to sell structured notes after being banned from doing so since July 2009.

The other distributors, Kim Eng Securities, OCBC Securities, Phillip Securities, and CIMB-GK Securities are still barred, while UOB Kay Hian and DMG & Partners Securities have sought more time to implement changes to their operations. Hong Leong Finance had already ceased to sell. Among the issues that led to the July decision were lax internal process and lack of trained relationship managers.

MAS said that an independent reviewer had been appointed to scrutinise the institutions' plans, implementation strategies, remuneration and training process, and other related issues.

The decision was welcomed by the three banks.