Swiss watchdog FINMA: it isn’t game over for 1MDB investigations

Swiss financial body FINMA said on Tuesday it had discontinued its investigation into UBS Group in connection with Malaysia's scandal-tainted 1MDB fund. "FINMA recently discontinued its investigation into UBS. FINMA found no systematic, serious misconduct, but sent the bank a written reprimand," the swiss watchdog wrote in a statement following its annual media conference.

Three cases remain unresolved, Finma added in a statement. A case against UBS was closed recently and the bank, Switzerland’s largest, was reprimanded with no further action to be taken, the watchdog said.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) found violations of local anti-money laundering rules when it concluded a probe of UBS in October, according to the statement.

Regulators and prosecutors in the US, Singapore and other jurisdictions have investigated how banks were allegedly used to funnel money from 1MDB, which has denied wrongdoing. In October, UBS was fined 1.3 million Singapore dollars ($930,000) by Singapore's central bank for breaches in Singapore's anti-money laundering law.

One year ago, Mark Branson of the Switzerland’s financial regulator said 15 banks were in a money-laundering danger zone. Finma said it dealt with 22 cases of money-laundering last year, which is more than double the just nine it looked into in 2015. Overall, Finma's investigations totaled 625 last year, down from 794. 

Last year, Finma helped shut down two Swiss banks operating in Singapore,  BSI and Falcon Private Bank, and handed out sanctions and profit clawbacks.