MAS: 3 insurance agents banned for falsifying records and providing false information

SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) banned three insurance agents for falsifying records and providing false information to authorities.

The Straits Times reported that the three individuals were Eunice Yuen Pui Leng (banned for five years), Grace Tan Zhen Zhi (banned for three years), and Benny Lim Hee Loon (banned for one year).

Effective May 24, these bans prohibit the agents from providing financial advisory services and managing or becoming substantial shareholders of any financial advisory firm.

Specifically, Yuen and Tan are also restricted from conducting business as insurance agents or taking part in the management of any insurance intermediary.

MAS issued a statement on May 24 detailing the misconduct. All three agents were formerly representatives of Prudential Singapore, with Lim no longer serving as an agent for Manulife Financial, effective May 24, 2024.

The incident dates back to Sept 14, 2018, when Yuen was summoned for an interview with MAS regarding an ongoing investigation.

MAS required her to present documentary evidence of coaching conducted for representatives within her agency group.

This evidence was crucial to verifying the supervision of these representatives and ensuring compliance with MAS’s remuneration requirements.

In preparation for the interview, Yuen instructed Tan to fabricate entries on coaching forms, which Yuen subsequently submitted to MAS.

She also deleted messages from her mobile phone, anticipating that this information would be pertinent to the investigation.

In October 2018, during MAS’s investigation into Yuen, Tan, and Lim, Lim provided several false statements, including signing coaching forms dated when Yuen supposedly supervised him.

Lim later confessed that he had only signed the forms on Sept 15, 2018, a day after Yuen was notified of her interview.

In June 2023, Yuen was convicted of willfully causing false entries to be made in Prudential Singapore’s documents and for submitting falsified documents to MAS. She was fined S$20,000.

In November 2023, Tan faced a S$5,000 fine for intentionally making false entries in Prudential Singapore’s documents. Lim received a warning in lieu of prosecution.

“MAS takes such misconduct seriously and will take firm action against financial services professionals who intentionally hinder MAS’ investigations by providing false information,” said MAS in the released statement. /TISG

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