UBS, Citi Fined in Singapore Money Laundering Case and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singapore hands down its second-largest collective penalty ever to banks and wealth managers entangled in the city-state’s $2 billion money-laundering scandal, with that story leading today’s headline roundup. Also making the list, Hong Kong builder Parkview Group mulls a $26 million art sale and China’s Country Garden suffers a 35 percent sales slide.

UBS, Citi Among Nine Banks Fined in Singapore Money Laundering Case

Singapore has hit banks and wealth managers including UBS, Citi and Julius Baer with its second-largest collective penalty ever in relation to a money-laundering case that dented the city-state’s clean reputation and cast a pall over its wealth management sector.

Nine financial institutions received a collective penalty of S$27.45 million ($21.5 million), the largest figure since penalties in the 1MDB case, over what Singapore’s regulator called “poor and inconsistent implementation” of controls in a $2 billion money-laundering scandal. Read more>>

Hong Kong Builder Parkview Ponders $26M Art Sale to Pay Debts

Hong Kong builder Parkview Group is considering selling artwork worth over HK$200 million ($25.5 million) to pay down debt and help secure a refinancing deal linked to one of Beijing’s most iconic complexes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Parkview is mulling to sell over 300 artworks displayed at Parkview Green to repay a small part of a $940 million loan due in August, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private matters. The valuation of the art is provided by the company to the banks. Read more>>

China’s Country Garden Sees Sales Slide 35% in June

Country Garden Holdings’ sales slid again in June, with the developer faring worse than peers, as a lack of policy support dampened demand.

Monthly contracted sales at the Foshan-based company dropped 35 percent from a year earlier to RMB 2.81 billion ($392 million), according to Bloomberg calculations based on a Friday filing. The decline was from an already low base and was steeper than the 23 percent drop in new home sales for China’s top 100 developers. Read more>>

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Said to Shut Hong Kong Branch Next Year

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank plans to close the lender’s Hong Kong branch by June 2026 and move most of its client operations to the Singapore office, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Hong Kong branch — which currently handles general corporate lending, as well as shipping finance and aviation finance — faced growing competition from overseas banks in recent years, making the business environment increasingly challenging, said the people, who did not want to be named. Read more>>

China’s First Legoland Amusement Park Opens in Shanghai

A giant 26 metre (85 foot) Lego figure named Dada welcomed visitors to the new Legoland resort in Shanghai. The resort, which opened Saturday, is the first in China. It is one of 11 parks across the world and was built with 85 million Lego bricks.

Among the main attractions is Miniland, which replicates well-known sights from across the world using Lego bricks. It features landmarks across China like Beijing’s Temple of Heaven and Shanghai’s Bund waterfront. There’s also a boat tour through a historic Chinese water town built with Lego bricks. Read more>>

Foreign Investors Saved $690M Routing Japanese Deals Through Singapore

Investors putting money into Japan via Singapore avoided roughly JPY 99 billion ($690 million) in Japanese taxes between 2020 and 2022 through a treaty loophole allowing them to double-dip on tax breaks, Nikkei has learned from discussions with tax officials.

Based on materials obtained by Nikkei, foreign investors have sent money via tax havens such as the Cayman Islands into Singapore, where local businesses put the funds into a type of Japanese special-purpose company known as a tokutei mokuteki kaisha (TMK). Read more>>

Sun Hung Kai Project Sellout Seen as Harbinger of Rebound

All 160 units of a new residential project by Sun Hung Kai Properties in Tuen Mun sold out on Saturday, buoyed by a recovering stock market and low interest rates, a sign that Hong Kong’s property market may be seeing a sustained rebound, according to analysts.

The first round of sales for Novo Land Phase 3A offered 160 units at listed prices, with an additional five units available by tender. Prices started at under HK$3 million ($382,173) for a three-bedroom flat. All available units were snapped up by 2pm, the developer said. Read more>>

Singapore Becomes Global Bright Spot for Luxury Retail

Luxury spending is defying a global slump in wealthy Singapore, a beacon for high-end retailers grappling with sluggish demand in major markets including China and the US.

Luxury sales in the city-state are expected to climb 7 percent to S$13.9 billion ($10.9 billion) this year, outpacing heavyweight regional shopping hubs Japan, China and South Korea, according to data shared with Bloomberg by Euromonitor International. Read more>>

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