All articles by Aarti Maharaj – Page 2
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Blog
FCA’s ‘Regulatory Sandbox’ to Drive Innovation and Competition
Image: The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority is planning to unveil a “regulatory sandbox” for companies to test new products, services, or business models without facing enforcement actions. “To promote competition it is vital that we support firms—both regulated and unregulated, whether large incumbent or small start-ups—that want to bring new ...
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Blog
Toshiba Suing Ex-CFOs Over Accounting Scandal
Toshiba is suing five former executives for negligence over false accounting practices that led to inflated profits by more than 170 billion yen ($1.2 billion). The Tokyo-based company is suing two former chief financial officers and three former presidents based on findings from an independent probe launched in September to ...
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Blog
U.K. Serious Fraud Office: ‘Why Engage At All?’
At a recent anti-bribery forum in London, Ben Morgan, joint head of bribery and corruption for the Serious Fraud Office, spoke about companies that have been prosecuted and investigated for bribery and corruption. Morgan pointed out that while no legislation is on the horizon to reward whistleblowers financially, ...
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Blog
Porsche Suspected of ‘Defeat Devices’ in Diesel Models
The Environmental Protection Agency has slapped additional charges against Volkswagen after the agency found that its subsidiary, Porsche, has been equipped with “defeat devices” to evade emissions tests. A notice of violation on the EPA’s website confirms that the regulator found 2014 to 2016 VW, Audi, and Porsche models ...
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Blog
Customers Expected to Stay With Big U.K. Banks Despite the CMA’s Move to Improve Competition
A report by research firm Pinset Masons and YouGov, reveals that 16 percent of customers would likely switch to a “challenger bank” like Metro or TSD within the next two years. These findings come after the British Competition Authority’s recommended the country’s biggest lenders to provide more information around ...
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Blog
CW Europe: A View From the U.K. Serious Fraud Office
Image: The general counsel of Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, speaking at the Compliance Week Europe conference in Brussels this week, said the SFO hopes to have several deferred-prosecution agreements in place by the end of this year for companies the agency has been investigating for misconduct. Alun Milford provided no ...
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Blog
Social Media: #Compliance Buzz
Trending online are the #Compliance and #Corpgov hashtags that compliance officers and governance practitioners around the world often turn to for emerging trends and latest news. Whether it’s sharing ideas about the ever-changing regulatory landscape or covering industry-related events, both hashtags are known to provide real-time information. This ...
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Blog
Britain’s Top Banks Escape Breaking Up; CMA Calls for More Clarity
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has squashed the idea of breaking up some of the country’s largest banks in an effort to improve competition across the industry. After a thorough review, the CMA found that there’s no direct connection between free accounts and competition. Instead, the competition watchdog ...
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Blog
Irish Data Regulator Probes Facebook’s European Privacy Practices
Image: The investigation by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon into Austrian law student Max Schrems’ privacy complaint will continue in light of the recent decision by the European Court of Justice to invalidate the Safe Harbor program for international data transfers between the United States and the European Union. ...
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Blog
Police Raid VW’s French HQ in Search of Critical Data
According to the Telegraph, as part of an ongoing probe into a pollution-cheating scheme, police swept through Volkswagen’s main office in Villers-Cotterets in northern France and another office near Paris on Friday, seizing data devices, documents, and computer hardware. The automatker, which is facing large fines, legal costs,and class-action ...
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Blog
U.K. Government Curbs Senior Managers Regime
The U.K’s Finance Ministry is scrapping a key part of the Senior Managers Regime that demanded senior managers prove that they took the necessary steps to prevent employee misconduct. Instead, a new “duty of responsibility” clause will require senior managers to take only the appropriate steps to prevent a regulatory ...
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Blog
Clawbacks, Other Reforms Drive Better Pay Disclosure
A new study from Deloitte finds that FTSE 100 companies have dramatically improved their disclosures around executive pay in recent years, probably in no small part due to new clawback provisions and other governance requirements adopted lately. (New regulations on pay disclosure were rolled out last year, such as a ...
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Blog
Podcast: AML Compliance in the Netherlands
Image: In this week’s podcast, Leon Blonk, regional compliance officer at the Bank of China, discussed the current state of anti-money laundering compliance in the Netherlands and what companies should consider when conducting business in this part of Europe. According to Transparency International, the Netherlands ranked eighth in its latest ...
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Podcast
Podcast: AML Compliance with Leon Blonk
Image: In this week's podcast, Leon Blonk, regional compliance officer, Bank of China discusses the current state of anti-money laundering compliance in the Netherlands and what companies should consider when conducting business in this part of Europe. According to transparency international, the Netherlands ranked eighth in TI’s latest Corruption Perceptions ...
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Blog
SFO Speeds Up Tesco’s Accounting Probe
The Serious Fraud Office has accelerated its probe into the accounting irregularities at Tesco, hoping to resolve the criminal investigation by year-end. The supermarket chain’s former chief executive Philip Clarke is one of many former Tesco executives being scrutinized by the agency in its investigation; Laurie McIlwee, former finance ...
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Blog
EU Pushes for More Tax Transparency Among Member States
The European Union passed a new law that will put an end to sweetened tax deals between member states and multinationals. Under the new legislation, member states will be required to swap information about special corporate tax deals twice per year with national tax authorities over an encrypted e-mail ...
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Blog
U.K. FCA: Senior Managers To Be ‘Whistleblower Champions’
Image: The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority is calling on senior managers to serve as “Whistleblower Champions” and to play a lead role in protecting employees who come forward with critical information about misconduct. The rules are part of the Senior Managers Regime, which is slated to go into effect ...
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Blog
EIOPA Requires ‘Robust’ Risk Management Framework
Image: The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is backing the creation of a separate asset class for high-quality infrastructure investments under Solvency II. The EIOPA also stressed that insurers should have the proper due diligence and risk management procedures in place to tackle the complexities associated with this ...
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Blog
Third Parties Face Penalties Over ‘Deliberate Tax Evasion’ Scheme
An investigation into third parties by the Revenue Commissioners of Ireland revealed that some companies were deliberately dodging tax laws by submitting incomplete and doctored disclosures to avoid penalties. According to a report by the comptroller and auditor general, tighter regulations are necessary to help crack down on tax evasion ...
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Blog
Financial Instruments Rule May Challenge Banks
Image: Danièle Nouy, supervisory chief of the European Central Bank, spoke recently about a new accounting standard for financial instruments that may prove challenging to the banking sector. “The completion of this accounting standard as one of the responses to the financial crisis will bring major changes and challenges to ...