Hong Kong's financial regulator said on Thursday it had fined  Hong Kong$2.71 billion ($350 million) on investment bank Goldman Sachs for its role in the vast scandal involving Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange Operations Commission (SFC) said the banking giant has demonstrated "serious deficiencies and deficiencies in management control, supervision, risk, compliance and anti-money laundering ".

The SFC clarified that Goldman Sachs accepted its findings, allowing for a swift termination of the disciplinary proceedings.

According to the Hong Kong stock exchange watchdog, the US bank's failures contributed to the embezzlement of US$2.6 billion of the US$6.5 billion of 1MDB's sovereign wealth fund in three bond issues in 2012 and 2013.

"Goldman Sachs Asia failed to meet the standards required as an authorized intermediary in the 1MDB case and not only did its reputation suffer damage as a result of its own failures, but it also brought the securities industry into disrepute," said Thomas Atkinson, Executive Director of CfS Enforcement.

Goldman Sachs Asia received US$210 million – or 37% of total revenue – from 1MDB bond issuances, which is the largest share among the investment bank's various entities.

The SFC's investigation concluded that Goldman Sachs Asia allowed the offers to continue despite numerous warning signs to which it did not pay sufficient attention and did not respond.

Billions of dollars had been embezzled from the sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), supposed to contribute to Malaysia's economic development, in a fraud with global ramifications.

In late July, Malaysia dropped charges against Goldman Sachs over his role in the 1MDB scandal.

The latter paid Malaysia $2.5 billion in August as part of an out-of-court settlement that is to settle its role in the scandal.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose coalition lost elections in 2018 largely because of the anger of voters shocked by the scandal, was implicated in the case.

At the end of July, he appealed his 12-year prison sentence after a first trial.

Several other suspects in the case remain at large, including the "alleged mastermind," Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, nicknamed Jho Low, known for attending Hollywood parties and presented by Razak's lawyers as the main culprit in the looting.