malaysiakini logo
story-image
mk-logo
News
Report: Falcon Bank restructures after 1MDB-linked losses
Published:  Mar 24, 2017 11:50 AM
Updated: 4:58 AM
ADS

Falcon Private Bank, which was ordered by Singapore authority to close down its branch in the city state due to links with 1MDB fund flows, has restructured itself after it suffered a huge loss.

Switzerland news site finews.com reported yesterday the loss incurred by the Swiss private bank forced a capital injection from its Abu Dhabi owner.

"We have taken relentless actions to address remaining legacy issues and have made good progress in strengthening our compliance and risk framework to meet Finma requirements," Falcon said in a statement yesterday.

Falcon was kicked out of Singapore and its branch manager jailed for failing to report potentially criminal transactions involving billions of dollars and for lying to authorities to protect Jho Low's financial interest.

Finews.com reported the scandal impacted Falcon, which recorded a 128 million Swiss franc loss, as compared to a profit of nearly 10 million francs a year ago.

Falcon's assets dropped sharply on the year to 11.6 billion francs from 14.1 billion francs at the end of last year.

The bank has named its fourth chairperson in seven years. Christian Wenger, a Swiss securities lawyer, will take over from Murtadha Al Hashmi, the finance chief for International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC).

Falcon said Abu Dhabi is committed to the investment, and had injected an undisclosed amount of capital to compensate for the loss and to reinforce the bank's capital, which now stands at over 20 percent.

View Comments