The (MAS) Guidelines on Personal Accountability and Conduct
The current regulatory framework guides financial institutions on the outcomes they should achieve regarding personal accountability and conduct. These guidelines focus on five results for financial firms to achieve ethical behavior, responsibility among the management team, responsible risk moves, and good conduct among all the employees and the business. The firms often review all the measures they put in place expecting to meet the MAS outcomes, which include:
- Outcome one: the first outcome is resulting from the guidelines is to have the senior managers identifying their core functions in a financial institution. Also, the responsibilities that these executive officers have to ensure that a company runs smoothly. The management team should identify all senior managers and the core functions they play in a financial institution. Senior managers are decision-making individuals that oversee the operations in a financial firm. The guidelines advocate for the head office to ensure that these individuals are conducting their roles properly.
- Outcome two: Senior managers are perfect for their roles and are accountable for all the employees’ actions and the general conduct of the business. Singapore Fit and Proper Criteria states that the head office must ensure that people holding the senior managers’ titles are fit for the job.
- Outcome three: A transparent management team with a regulatory framework that supports the performance of senior managers. Also, governance must appreciate the responsibilities and roles of the senior managers. Under the Role Framework and Job Description rules, you can define the head office concerning the employees and how the two support each other for operations to run smoothly.
- Outcome four: Product risk individuals are fit for their roles in the financial institution. Besides, they are subject to proper incentive structures, effective risk operations, and high-quality conduct standards. The MAS guidelines define the people with authority to make decisions in an FI that can affect the company.
- Outcome Five: A financial institution with a stable framework that promotes good conduct among employees. This outcome ensures that the interaction between the financial institution and its companies matches the market integrity and cultural standards. The management team plays a pivotal role in this outcome.
The MAS’s main aim in these guidelines is to set a one-size-fits-all environment that targets five outcomes. As a result, this approach is flexible and gives financial firms freedom to set up their system to achieve a healthy business that meets the five targeted outcomes. This approach sides towards conduct and culture, the conduct risks, and the outcomes.
Reliable sources often claim that rules are not enough to ensure a healthy culture in a business. As a result, the MAS explains that every FI must go an extra mile to ensure that its business operations ethically occur. Also, an FI must ensure that all the employees maintain individual conduct and accountability. There are several ways that a financial firm can use to monitor the behavior and culture beyond what the MAS provides for the five outcomes to be met.
