MAS and SGX problems are coming home to roost

Whenever I am asked about my interactions with MAS and SGX from my past 10 over years of working experience, I always state that I am underwhelmed by the people in those organizations. A lack of passion, directions and understanding of the financial industry. It seems the problems are coming home to roost.

 A lot of the bad eggs are 'hatching' the recent years. Maybe an accumulation of bad leadership and decisions over the years have lead to an implosion of sorts. Much like the local SMRT train issues and the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 where errors were accumulated to an overwhelming state of affairs.

Recent issues includes the incredible meltdown of the penny stocks of Blumont, Asiaons and Lion Gold which happened in 2013. That lead to losses of billions of dollars The meltdown lead to local brokerages being taken over. The authorities were slow to catch on the tremendous increase of market capitalization of the penny counters. 3 years on, the authorities are still struggling to find answers.

(See: Singapore's biggest securities fraud investigation, Singapore Raids Brokers; Exchange Reports Irregularities. Singapore Charges Ex-Banker Following 1MDB Probe)

Sing Post is now facing a corporate meltdown as poor leadership selection lead to the CEO, Chairman and Board resigning or stepping down one after another. Sing Post is a GLC linked company and have a monopolistic market share. The leadership team selection will no doubt be presented for approval within GLC. Yet, the process failed and Sing Post continues to make the financial headlines with poor governance.

The MAS mandated closure of the private bank, BSI, which is embroiled in the 1MDB money laudering investigation, is another striking matter. An embarrassment on the global level compare to the previous somewhat local and regional affair. This highlights the incompetency of the authorities in regulating the financial industry. In pursuit of hot money and the goal of being a global financial center for private wealth, the authorities are not equipped nor the passion or a deep bench of committed talents to pull this off.

I believe there will be more worms coming out of the woodwork in the near future as the economic downturn will lead to belt tightening, increasing the chances of issues being surfaced and investors keeping an even closer eye on their investments.