All Europe articles – Page 76
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Blog
PetroBras Denies Potential FCPA Settlement
Image: Last week PetroBras said in an SEC filing that it is not working with U.S. regulators to end the long list of corruption charges leveled against the company. That statement is merely the latest in a long list of unusual events in the compliance spectacle that PetroBras has become, ...
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Blog
U.K. Banks on the Lookout for Civil Claims in Forex Scandal
The foreign markets manipulation debacle may drag on, with no end in sight. In the wake of a recent landmark legal settlement where top banks, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, and Barclays, agreed to a £1.28 billion settlement in the rate-rigging scandal, lawyers and analysts are warning it’s ...
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Blog
ECB Delays Review of Banks’ Risk Models
The European Central Bank has extended its review of banks’ internal risk models up to four years. The banking supervisor plans on conducting a thorough examination on how some of the Eurozone’s biggest banks are calculating its capital. Deutsche Bank, Santander, and Société Générale are some of the financial institutions ...
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Blog
U.K. Financial Regulator Explains the New Accountability Rules
Image: The Financial Conduct Authority released “near final rules” which shows how it will apply the new accountability regimes that hold employees accountable for misconduct in U.K. branches of overseas banks. These rules further explain the FCA’s accountability reform announcement last month that zeroes in on top executives at U.K. ...
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Blog
The Current State of the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office
Image: Britain’s Serious Fraud Office appears to be under intense pressure, amid the announcement that another part of the government, led by International Development Secretary Justine Greening, is launching a new specialized anti-corruption unit to investigate cases of international corruption affecting developing countries. While the SFO achieved a significant victory ...
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Blog
Standard Chartered Bolsters Its Financial Crime Unit Amid Regulatory Trouble
Standard Chartered is adding more staff to its financial crimes team, following a probe by U.S. regulators for an alleged breach in sanctions laws that resulted in a $400 million fine in 2012. In its first-half results announced last week, the bank said, “There is a range of potential penalties ...
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Blog
Report: U.K. Regulator’s Victory in the Libor Scandal
Image: Tom Hayes, once a “star trader” at UBS and Citigroup and the first to stand trial in the Libor scandal, has been charged with eight counts of conspiracy to manipulate Libor and will serve 14 years in prison. This case serves as a major turning point for the U.K. ...
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Resource
Google EU User Consent Policy: Are You Compliant?
Google recently announced it will be implementing a new user consent policy. Essentially, this new policy requires all websites serving EU visitors, including those not based in the European Union, to comply with the EU Cookie Directive.The EU Cookie Directive has led to a concerted effort by regulators to set ...
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Blog
Banks Need to Manage Risks Better, U.K. Regulator Says
Image: A review by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority found that banks need to take the risks associated with benchmark rates more seriously. FCA believes that financial institutions should learn from the recent scandals that rocked the industry and ensure that such misconduct does not happen again. The watchdog says ...
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Blog
Europe Faces Growing Criticism Over Sacked CEOs
The movement of executives at top financial institutions is back in the spotlight but this time the action is in Europe. Following the 2008-09 financial crisis banks were losing their chief executives faster than many expected. Now with post-meltdown regulatory reforms in full force, the turnover rate among executives has ...
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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
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
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
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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Resource
e-Book: CSR and Compliance
Europe has made significant advances in corporate social responsibility (CSR). European Union member states now back reforms where large companies will be expected to report on environmental and social issues, a move that shows how highly European investors value CSR initiatives.In this e-Book, we examine how major European companies are ...