MAS develops in-house tool to detect rogue trading behaviour early

It predicts the likelihood that market manipulation has occurred based on trade analysis and past cases.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is utilising an augmented intelligence tool alongside its other analytical frameworks, in the triaging of cases for investigation, according to the regulator’s inaugural enforcement report.

Dubbed as Project Apollo, the system reportedly automates the computation of key metrics used for trade analysis and predicts the likelihood that market manipulation has occurred based on trade analysis and past cases. An interactive dashboard is provided for the visualisation of Apollo’s results and predictions.

According to MAS, Project Apollo not only aims to automates repetitive and manual processes to improve efficiency, but also model rogue trading behavior using traits identified by human experts and complement human decision-making abilities through augmented intelligence.

Amongst the regulatory actions the regulator took between July 2017 and December 2018, one consisted of a criminal conviction wherein one individual was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment for false trading. As well, $698,000 in civil penalties were doled out in relation to two insider trading cases and one case of unauthorised trading.

Also read: MAS slapped $16.8m in penalties on 42 financial firms in the last 18 months: report

A total of $16.8m in financial penalties and compositions were slapped by MAS across 42 financial institutions as part of the agency’s enforcement actions during the 18-month period. Additionally, 19 prohibition orders were issued banning unfit representatives from re-entering the financial industry, whilst 223 warnings were sent to 32 individuals, 162 financial institutions, eight digital token exchanges and one initial coin offering (ICO) issuer.

MAS’ enforcement report, which will be published every 18 months, provides updates on enforcement matters in the financial markets undertaken by the agency.

“The MAS Enforcement Report is part of a broader effort to provide greater transparency on MAS’ enforcement outcomes and strategies,” Gillian Koh Tan, executive director for MAS’ enforcement department, explained in the report. However, it excludes actions from investigations led by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in the MAS-CAD joint investigation arrangement.