Singapore regulator issues bans against Three Arrows Capital founders

The Monetary Authority of Singapore this morning banned Zhu Su and Kyle Davies, co-founders of the failed hedge fund Three Arrows Captial, from involvement in regulated business activities in the country.

MAS said in a statement that it had hit Su and Davies with 9-year prohibition orders for breaches of the Securities and Futures Act 2001 and Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations (SFR).

“Under the POs, which took effect from 13 September 2023, Mr Zhu and Mr Davies will be prohibited from performing any regulated activity and from taking part in the management of, acting as a director of or becoming a substantial shareholder, of any capital market services firm under the SFA,” the watchdog added.

Su and Davies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Three Arrows, once one of the largest hedge funds in the crypto market, ran into trouble in the months after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem last year, and filed for bankruptcy in July 2022. It owed more than $3.5 billion to its top creditors, according to documents released at the time.

Further investigations

MAS had already reprimanded Three Arrows in June 2022 over false information it had given to the regulator.

In today’s statement, MAS said it had conducted further investigations into the firm and its founders, uncovering additional breaches of its rules between August 2020 and January 2022.

Those breaches concerned the failure to notify MAS about the appointment of Mr Cheong Jun Yoong Arthur as a portfolio manager in a timely fashion and the failure to “have in place a risk management framework to identify, monitor, and address risks associated with the cryptocurrency and digital asset investments under its management.”

Ms Loo Siew Yee, an assistant managing director at MAS, said in a statement, “Senior management of fund managers are required to implement robust risk management measures to protect the interest of investors. MAS takes a serious view of Mr Zhu’s and Mr Davies’ flagrant disregard of MAS’ regulatory requirements and dereliction of their directors’ duties. MAS will take action to weed out senior managers who commit such misconduct.”