Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had on 30 January 2024, imposed Administrative Monetary Penalty (AMP)^[1] on 14 financial institutions (Table 1) for non-compliances with sections 143(3)(b) and 143(4) of the Financial Services Act 2013 (FSA) and sections 155(3)(b) and 155(4) of the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA) regarding the submission of information to BNM, read together with the requirements under the following policy documents:

1. STATsmart Reporting – Financial, Compliance and Industry Specific Data (STATsmart PD) issued on 1 June 2022;
2. External Sector Statistics (ESS) System – Submission of International Transactions and External Position Information Policy Document (ESS PD) issued on 31 January 2022 and revised on 1 November 2022; and
3. Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) – Requirements on the Submission, Usage and Protection of Credit Information (CCRIS PD) issued on 29 January 2021.

Under these requirements, the financial institutions are required to submit timely^[2], accurate and complete^[3] data, as specified in the respective policy documents.

Complete, timely and accurate statistical data submitted by financial institutions is important to inform BNM’s surveillance of the financial system and policy formulation to safeguard monetary and financial stability. The data is also relied upon for the compilation of key monetary and financial statistics published by BNM. As such, financial institutions must ensure that their internal systems and operational procedures are sufficiently robust to perform timely and accurate statistical reporting to BNM, effectively resolve data issues at source and maintain adequate resources to manage the financial institutions’ reporting obligations.

The financial institutions had committed various non-compliances associated with late, incomplete and/or inaccurate submissions of critical data related to financial performance and payments, external asset and liabilities, cash balance of payments and borrower’s credit information, that may impact analysis, decision-making and publications by BNM. Common root causes of the non-compliances include unresolved technical issues affecting financial institutions’ internal systems, incorrect applications of statistical requirements and inadequate operating procedures. The financial institutions have taken remedial steps to address these issues, including system enhancements, strengthened processes for validating submissions as well as additional training for staff. Erroneous submissions have been fully rectified and did not affect releases of aggregate data by BNM for the relevant reporting periods.

The respective AMP amount was determined by considering relevant aggravating and mitigating factors which include the financial institutions’:

1. Past compliance records; and
2. Post misconduct behaviour such as timely rectification of the non-compliances and remedial measures taken by the financial institutions.

The financial institutions had paid the respective AMP amount imposed by BNM as listed in Table 1.

Table 1: List of the 14 Financial Institutions

The enforcement action taken is in line with the approach and processes outlined in the recently published Enforcement Approach document. For more information, please visit Enforcement Approach.

^[1]BNM imposed the AMP pursuant to subsection 234(3)(b)(i) of the FSA and subsection 245(3)(b)(i) of the IFSA.

^[2] All data submitted to BNM shall be submitted within the specified timeline and frequency as required under subsection 143(4) of the FSA and subsection 155(4) of the IFSA read together with the following provisions of the respective policy documents;

1. Paragraphs 1, 17.1, 17.2, 17.10, 23.1, 28 and Table 1 of Part D of STATsmart PD;
2. Paragraphs 2 and 3.3 of Part I (External Assets and Liabilities (EAL)) and paragraph 3.3, Table 1 and paragraph 3.6 of Part C (Cash Balance of Payments (Cash BOP)) of the ESS PD; and
3. Paragraphs 1, 21.5 and 21.6 of the CCRIS PD.

^[3] All data submitted to BNM shall be accurate and complete as required under subsection 143(3)(b) of the FSA and subsection 155(3)(b) of the IFSA read together with the following provisions of the respective policy documents;

1. Paragraphs 1, 23.3, 27.1 and Table 1 of Part D of STATsmart PD;
2. Paragraph 2 of Part I (EAL) and paragraph 3.3, Table 1 and paragraph 3.4 of Part C (Cash BOP) of the ESS PD; and
3. Paragraphs 1, 21.2 and 21.5 of the CCRIS PD