THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Tuesday (Sep 10) that it reprimanded the chief executive of formerly registered insurance broker Acesynergy Brokers (ABPL) Tan Chuan Lam for breaches under the Insurance Act.
The central bank had previously cancelled the insurance broker’s registration on Jul 24, prohibiting it from conducting insurance broking business in Singapore from the same date. This followed the group’s failure to comply with MAS’ regulatory requirements, registration conditions and written directions.
ABPL had failed to submit its annual regulatory returns on time, arrange for the audit of such returns, and appoint the required minimum number of broking staff, MAS said.
Tan, as ABPL’s chief executive and director, was responsible for ensuring that it complied with these requirements, said MAS. It added that “significant weaknesses” in the company’s management oversight and accounting and compliance processes led to these breaches.
The central bank said that despite its repeated attempts to engage Tan, ABPL did not obey its written directions to remediate the breaches found during an inspection by MAS and to appoint an independent external person to review its remediation measures.
“MAS found that Tan was aware of ABPL’s breaches. Despite MAS’ repeated engagements with him, he failed to take adequate measures to prevent ABPL from committing the breaches,” said the authority.
The central bank added that it takes a serious view of Tan’s lapses and urged chief executives and directors to carry out their duties and functions effectively.
MAS’ cancellation of ABPL’s registration comes under Section 80(2)(h) of the Insurance Act which states that the authority may cancel the registration of any insurance broker on the ground that it has “contravened any provision of the Act or any condition imposed or any direction given by MAS under the Act”.
Section 142(4) of the Insurance Act 1966 also states that directors of corporations, or anyone holding a similar office, can be found guilty and liable for punishment for offences committed under the Act unless it is proven that he or she exercised the required diligence to prevent the offence.
