Appointment Blogs | Compliance Week – Page 294
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Avon Pays $135 Million To Resolve FCPA Charges
Image: The SEC has charged Avon with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations by failing to prevent payments and gifts to Chinese government officials from employees at a subsidiary, resulting in a $135 million penalty. “Avon missed an opportunity to correct potential FCPA problems at its subsidiary, resulting in years of ...
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FDIC Posts New Requirements for Bank Resolution Plans
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has issued new guidance and requirements for the resolution plans federally insured banks with more than $50 billion in assets must submit. The guidance, which applies to 2015 submissions, provides direction regarding what must be discussed in a fully developed resolution strategy and an accompanying ...
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CFPB Sues Sprint Over Third-Party Charges
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a lawsuit against Sprint, alleging that the wireless communications provider illegally billed its customers tens of millions of dollars in unauthorized third-party charges. The Bureau’s complaint alleges that Sprint allowed third parties to “cram” unauthorized charges on customers’ mobile-phone accounts and ignored ...
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Sanctions Rewrite Will Open Cuba to U.S. Companies
Seeking to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba, President Barack Obama has announced an easing of decades-old sanctions. Authorizing the export of goods for private sector Cuban companies "essentially throws the market open to U.S. companies,” Judith Lee, chair of the law firm Gibson Dunn's International Trade Regulation ...
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Bank CEOs, Boards Get Another Batch of Cyber-Security Help
Bank CEOs and boards have a fresh batch of cyber-security guidance to evaluate. On Wednesday, The Conference of State Bank Supervisors released “Cybersecurity 101: A Resource Guide for Bank Executives,” a document that collects industry-recognized standards and best practices that are currently used within the financial services industry.
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U.K. Stress Tests Show Few Capital Hiccups, Improved Resiliency
Image: Dec. 17—Three of eight major U.K. banks reviewed by regulators need to bolster their capital positions, but overall the banking system’s resiliency has improved, according to results of Bank of England stress tests meant to test banks’ ability to withstand a housing shock. “The results show that the core ...
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Swiss ‘FIFA Law’ Turns Sports Execs Into Politically Exposed Persons
Image: Dec. 17—After years of grappling with corruption allegations against international sports federations based within their borders, Swiss lawmakers have passed a measure to criminalize corruption in sports and add sports federation heads to the definition of politically exposed persons facing enhanced scrutiny from banks. Swiss legislator Roland Büchel, who ...
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Senators Demand SEC Action on Pay-Ratio Rule
A coalition of senators, among them Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), penned a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White demanding that the SEC finalize its long-lingering pay-ratio rule. The rule, requiring public companies to disclose a ratio of CEO pay to that of their ...
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SEC Cautions Companies on Consolidation Analyses
Image: The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking closely at who consolidates a variable interest entity, noticing variations in how companies apply existing guidance. Professional Accounting Fellow Christopher Rogers said at a recent conference that staff is looking into issues surrounding the application of shared power, determining when a decision ...
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Survey: Directors Uneasy About Risk Strategies
Dec. 16—Many directors are unhappy with their approach to risk oversight and mitigation, frequently feeling out-of-the-loop when it comes to cyber-security threats, according to a new survey by the National Association of Corporate Directors. The survey found that many directors want changes to how risk oversight responsibilities are allocated, with ...
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American Realty Capital Scrambles Amid Probe
American Realty Capital Properties, reeling from an accounting misstatement disclosed in October, has announced sweeping changes to its management and corporate governance. Most notably, CEO David Kay and Executive Chairman Nick Schorsch have both resigned their duties and stepped down from ARCP’s board of directors. The company is also moving ...
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New CCO at Northrop Grumman
Image: Northrop Grumman has named Carl Hahn as its new chief compliance officer. Effective Jan. 15, Hahn will succeed Judy Perry Martinez, who will be retiring. He joins the company from IBM, where he most recently served as associate general counsel and compliance officer.
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Humana Names New Top Accountant
Health insurer Humana has named Cynthia Zipperle as chief accounting officer and controller, effective immediately. Reporting to CFO Brian Kane, she has responsibility for all accounting functions, the establishment and maintenance of internal accounting controls, and enterprise-wide financial reporting to both the Securities and Exchange Commission and state Departments of ...
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PCAOB’s Chief Inspector Provides Checklist for Year-End Audits
Dec. 16—The audit profession’s chief inspector has provided auditors with a year-end checklist, giving companies some fair warning about what they can expect auditors to be focused on in their upcoming audit cycles. The most common deficiencies found in 2014 inspections still relate to audits of internal control, said Helen ...
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2015 SEC Trial Scorecard Update: Jury Finds Bank, CEO Liable for Fraud
As I did in FY 2014, I am again tracking the SEC's trials and outcomes for FY 2015 in this running SEC Trial Scorecard. To date in FY 2015, which began on October 1, 2014, the SEC has had three trials in federal court reach a verdict (see the ...
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COSO 2.0: Same Same but Different
Image: After 18 months of forewarning, the new COSO framework for internal control went into effect last week—and despite all the promises that COSO 2.0 isn’t substantively different than the old framework companies have used for a decade to manage SOX compliance, in reality, Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly writes, ...
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Report: Companies Struggle to Secure Sensitive Data
Many companies still struggle with how to secure their most sensitive data, elevating the risk of a data breach, according to a new cyber-security report of nearly 500 IT and security professionals conducted by information-security firm Trustwave. The report reveals significant security deficiencies and common security weaknesses still remain in ...
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TD Bank to Pay $625K for Data Breach
TD Bank this week reached a $625,000 settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office after losing unencrypted back-up tapes containing personal information of more than 260,000 consumers nationwide, and delaying notice of the incident. The final settlement amounted to $825,000, but the AG’s Office credited the bank $200,000 to reflect ...
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Analogic Nears End of FCPA Probe
Analogic, an airport security and medical-imaging technology provider, has disclosed that it’s likely to face sanctions by the Department of Justice and SEC for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The potential sanctions concern certain questionable transactions involving Analogic’s Danish subsidiary BK Medical and certain of its foreign distributors. ...
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Petrobras Creates Risk and Compliance Executive Director Role Amid Bribery Probe
Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras has created a new position of executive director of governance, risk, and compliance. The move comes as the company faces several investigations for its involvement in a widespread money-laundering scandal.