All articles by Jaclyn Jaeger – Page 104
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Blog
Banamex USA Fined $140M for AML Violations
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today imposed a civil penalty of $140 million against Banamex USA for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. The FDIC imposed the penalty on the same day that Citigroup, which purchased Mexico-based Banamex in 2001, said it would be ...
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Article
Taming Vendor Risks Continues to Flummox Compliance Programs
Image: Vendor risks driving you crazy? Well, you are not alone. In a recent survey compliance and audit professionals gave their vendor risk management programs an overall score of only 2.8 on a 1 to 5 scale. Thankfully, corporate boardrooms are paying more attention now. “It’s risen to a level ...
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Distilling Lessons From Recent Sanctions Cases
The Justice Department clearly is prosecuting more companies for sanctions or export control violations: 15 enforcement actions since 2010, compared to only three in the prior three years. Inside, we’ve sifted out themes arising from those settlements to understand more about what factors regulators weigh when resolving charges and how ...
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Blog
Louis Berger International to Pay $17.5 Million for FCPA Violations
U.S.-based construction management company Louis Berger International has reached a $17.1 million settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when it bribed foreign officials in Asia to secure government construction management contracts. Two of the company’s former executives also ...
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Blog
FCPA Actions Down, Declinations Up
The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission resolved eight Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions so far in 2015—the lowest mid-year total in a decade, according to recent analysis from law firm Miller & Chevalier. “This slow-down seems to be attributable, in part, to a greater emphasis on declinations ...
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Blog
SEC Issues Another Big Whistleblower Award
The SEC has awarded more than $3 million to a company insider whose information helped the SEC crack a complex fraud case—the third-highest award to date under the SEC’s whistleblower program. Since its inception in 2011, the program has paid more than $50 million to 18 whistleblowers, including a more ...
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Blog
Employee or Independent Contractor? Labor Department Weighs In
Image: The Labor Department issued new guidance on how companies should distinguish between employees and independent contractors. “The main difference between the new interpretation and the Labor Department’s prior enforcement policy is a greater emphasis on the ‘economic dependence’ of the workers on the business that has engaged their services,” ...
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Blog
Two More Banks Reach Agreements Under Swiss Bank Program
The Department of Justice last week announced that two more banks— Banque Pasche and ARVEST Privatbank —have reached resolutions under the Department’s Swiss Bank Program, which provides a means for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States. Banque Pasche will pay a $7.2 million penalty, and ...
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Article
Mending Social Media Compliance Gaps
Two recent studies hold both good and bad news on the state of social media compliance today: Compliance officers no longer approach corporate use of social media with the trepidation they once did, but those channels leave companies increasingly vulnerable to regulatory violations. According to these studies, the financial services ...
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Article
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Data Mining
In recent months, numerous companies have found themselves the target of legal and enforcement actions for obtaining or using personal data without consent. The kicker: Most of these actions could have been easily avoided, since most of the infractions were clear violations of contract law. “If companies simply complied with ...
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Blog
New Zealand to Extend AML Efforts
In a keynote speech today at the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering in Auckland, New Zealand's Justice Minister Amy Adams said the government has begun preliminary work to extend anti-money laundering compliance obligations on more professions and companies, including lawyers, accountants, and businesses that deal in high-value goods, subjecting ...
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Blog
Fed to Santander: Overhaul Your Governance Practices
The Federal Reserve Board this week levied an enforcement action against Santander, ordering it to overhaul its governance practices in several areas, including board oversight, risk management, capital planning, and liquidity risk management. No financial penalties were issued. Details inside.
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Blog
Canada AML Study Finds Compliance Gaps
A first-of-its-kind survey on Canadian compliance professionals conducted by Grant Thornton finds significant weaknesses in the AML compliance practices of Canadian companies. Among the findings: many compliance staff are not consistently visiting their overseas locations and rarely tailor their AML training programs to the specific needs of different groups, particularly ...
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Article
Rule Change to Ease Export Controls in the Cloud
Image: Good news: U.S. export control regulations may finally be catching up to modern cloud computing technology, with new rules to focus on keeping sensitive data secure rather than on where the data is stored. Defense and tech companies are likely to be beneficiaries, as they could now use cloud ...
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Article
EU AML Directive Fires Starting Pistol on Beneficial Owners Reform
European financial firms are preparing to implement new anti-money laundering rules that will require reporting about the real owners of the businesses they work with. The rules, intended to help EU governments pursue tax crimes and terrorist financing, “will increase the level of transparency across all transactions,” says Ambrose Loughlin ...
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Blog
North America Soccer Groups Push Reforms After FIFA Scandal
The governing bodies for professional soccer in North America and the Caribbean are overhauling their governance frameworks, amid increasing scrutiny of the sport worldwide since U.S. officials charged a slew of FIFA officials with corruption last month. The group, known as CONCACAF, says the changes are “an additional step … ...
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Article
Advisers Still Feel Unease Over CCO Liability Risk
Image: The conversation about personal liability for compliance officers is buzzing again, thanks to a hornet’s nest SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher stirred up with a complaint about recent sanctions against two CCOs. “We’re hearing similar concerns among CCOs at investment adviser firms—and not just from CCOs, but also from senior ...
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Article
Compliance Officers as Strategic Partners
Lots of people talk about the compliance function as crucial to business strategy today, but gaps remain: According to one PwC survey of chief executives, 78 percent of CEOs say overregulation is the top threat to growing their business; at the same time, only 35 percent of CCOs in PwC’s ...
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Blog
SEC Rebukes Investment Advisory Firm for Ignoring CCO Pleas
A bit of good news amid the discussion of personal liability for chief compliance officers: The SEC has delivered a one-year suspension to an investment advisory firm’s former president on the grounds that he consistently ignored the chief compliance officer’s request for resources, which led to the firm’s compliance failures. ...
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Blog
Two South African Companies Dodge FCPA Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission this month closed two separate investigations into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act without bringing any enforcement actions. Each investigation involved alleged bribery payments made by South African companies. Details inside.