On 24 May 2016, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) withdrew the merchant banking license of the Singapore branch of Swiss private bank BSI Bank Ltd. The BSI group was one of the oldest banks in Switzerland and the sixth largest in the country. It specialized in private wealth management. MAS gave the following reasons for shutting down the Singapore subsidiary: (1) widespread control failures, resulting in numerous breaches of anti-money laundering regulations; (2) poor and ineffective oversight by senior management; (3) an unacceptable risk culture, with blatant disregard for compliance and control requirements as well as MAS's regulations; and (4) numerous acts of gross misconduct by certain staff. MAS referred the names of six BSI Singapore employees to the public prosecutor to evaluate whether they had committed criminal offences. It also imposed financial penalties, amounting to S$13.3 million (US$9.5 million), on the company for 41 regulatory breaches.

Could BSI have better managed the balance between risk management and achieving its growth strategy? If so, how?