All articles by Aarti Maharaj – Page 4
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Blog
Podcast: Spain’s New Corporate Compliance Defense
Image: Spain has been receiving a lot of attention for its corporate compliance defense. Not only did the country adopt new requirements to help root out corruption; it goes further than other nations have gone by mandating specific features that compliance programs must contain to qualify. In this podcast, Aaron ...
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Podcast
Podcast: Spain’s New Corporate Compliance Defense
Spain has been receiving a lot of attention recently for its corporate compliance defense. Not only did the country adopt new requirements to help root out corruption but it goes further than other countries have gone by mandating specific features that compliance programs must contain in order to qualify. In ...
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Blog
SFO in Talks With Barclays to End Long-Running Criminal Probe
The Serious Fraud Office has extended a deferred-prosecution agreement to Barclays to end an investigation into the bank’s alleged role in the £2 billion Qatari 2008 fundraising and other practices that helped the bank weather the financial crisis. British regulators recently gained the power to issue DPAs, and the SFO ...
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Blog
Czech Bankers Concerned About New EU Rules
Czech bankers are worried about new European rules that may pose systemic risks to countries across Europe. The legislation, which is currently being reviewed by the European Commission will cause big depositors and bondholders, instead of national regulators, to incur more losses. Bankers are worried that this could lead ...
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Blog
Restructuring the Bank of England: More Transparency
Image: In a recent consultation paper, Britain’s Finance Minister George Osborne unveiled his plans to restructure the Bank of England’s regulatory system. Among his initiatives, the National Audit Office will provide more transparency to the central bank, while the Prudential Regulation Authority will no longer operate as a subsidiary and ...
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Blog
Accounting Scandal Takes Down Toshiba’s Head Honcho
Image: Hisao Tanaka, chief executive of Toshiba Corp., is expected to step down in September in light of accounting missteps at the Japanese conglomerate. The domino effect will continue as key board members are rumored to be leaving over the next few months. News reports indicate that top executives ...
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Blog
Ireland’s Regulatory Body Yet to Investigate Bloxham Accounting Practices
Since 2012, now-defunct Bloxham Stockbrokers, Ireland’s oldest stockbroker, halted all trading activities amid a Central Bank investigation, which uncovered a €5.3 million gap in its accounts. Ireland’s regulatory body, the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board, has yet to investigate the firm’s accounting practices. In May, the Central Bank banned the company’s ...
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Blog
EU Regulator Charges MasterCard Amid Breach of Antitrust Rules
Image: MasterCard is once again in the spotlight, as the European Commission has swooped in on the company’s potential abuse of interchange fees. After a two-year investigation, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said, “MasterCard is artificially raising the costs of card payments, which would harm consumers and retailers in the European ...
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Blog
More Disclosures Needed From Public Officials, Says OECD
Image: The pursuit of good governance is never easy. According to a recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development survey, inadequate disclosures, lack of whistleblower protection laws, and concerns about integrity have caused many citizens of advanced countries to lose trust in national governments. More inside.
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Blog
British Watchdog Sets New Accountability Standards
Image: Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has released new rules for its Senior Managers Regime, a compliance standard that will hold senior managers at financial firms personally accountable for corporate misconduct. “We have given clarity on rules that will embed personal accountability into the culture of the city,” Martin Wheatley, FCA ...
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Blog
Britain Moves to Increase Corporate Transparency
U.K. companies will soon be required to create a register of owners who hold “significant control” over a company and its assets. Under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, companies will have to create and maintain a database of information about their decision makers that can be accessed ...
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Blog
Bankers Need to Clean Up Their Act, Allianz Exec Says
Image: Elizabeth Corley, global chief of Allianz Global Investors, warns that there can be serious consequences to the economy if bankers continue to engage in reckless misconduct. Corley says rogue bankers often see wrongdoing as a minor rather than a serious offence, which can lead to bigger problems for financial ...
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Blog
SEC to Finalize Clawback Requirements
The SEC will meet on Wednesday to consider the long-awaited clawback requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act. The SEC has postponed addressing the incentive compensation clawback provision for years. If the amendments are made, this will usher in a new wave of compliance requirements for many companies. More inside.
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Blog
U.K. Watchdogs Issue New Rules on Clawbacks for Bankers
The Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England have finished banker rules that could have bonuses clawed back even after a decade of being awarded, if the firm comes under regulatory scrutiny for “potential material failures,” the FCA said. Senior managers aren’t off the hook either: They face a ...
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Blog
Anti-Corruption Groups Challenge the SFO on DPAs
Image: Title: GreenA number of well-known anti-corruption activists, such as Transparency International and Corruption Watch, are urging David Green, director of Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, to rethink replacing criminal charges with deferred prosecution agreements. The group warns that if DPAs are offered, that will allow banks and other companies to ...
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Blog
India Attempts to Tackle the Supply Side of Bribery
India’s Union Cabinet recently approved amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act (PoCA) that will expand the scope of the law to corporate executives. Currently the law prohibits corrupt acts by public servants and government officials, who have been at the center of enforcement actions. Over the years, government corruption ...
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Blog
Google and Amazon’s Antitrust Woes Continue
Image: This week, Europe’s Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager escalated a running regulatory battle with American tech giant Google—and Amazon is not too far behind. While the European Union launched an investigation into Amazon’s business practices last week, Vestager recently warned the online retailer about abusing its dominance in the marketplace ...
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Blog
Britain to be Exempted From EU’s Structural Reforms
Britain will be cleared of EU reforms that drop the axe on risky trading activities among big banks. The draft law was presented Wednesday to the EU’s state ambassadors for review. If it receives their support, the proposed law will be passed on to Parliament on Friday for approval. ...
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Blog
Rebuilding FIFA Starts With Good Governance
Transparency International is calling for governance reform at the scandal-ridden football organization, Fédération Internationale de Football Association. TI says that restoring public trust won’t be an easy win for FIFA, but the global football association can set an example by rebuilding its governance structure and instituting independent non-executive directors and ...
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Blog
Prosecutors Search Deutsche Bank Head Offices in Tax Fraud Probe
Deutsche Bank took another blow this week after law enforcement officials searched the bank’s headquarters amid suspicions of tax fraud relating to client securities transactions. The practice, known as “dividend stripping,” has once again placed the largest German lender under the regulatory spotlight. Details inside.