All articles by Jaclyn Jaeger – Page 116
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Article
ISS Moving to Score Cards for Equity Plan Evaluations
Institutional Shareholder Services has proposed substantial changes to its voting policies on equity plans for the 2015 proxy season. Rather than assigning a pass or fail grade, ISS plans to implement a scorecard approach that weights various factors. The move addresses complaints that ISS takes a cookie-cutter approach to evaluating ...
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Regulators Are Once Again in Hot Pursuit of Worker Misclassification
Image: Title: HanrahanState and federal agencies are issuing a renewed warning to companies that regularly use independent contractors: classify them correctly, or face big penalties. They are also putting more funds into detection and enforcement, meaning companies are likely to see an increase in audits. “I would expect to see ...
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Blog
Report: Most Countries Lag in Anti-Corruption Enforcement
Image: Title: UgazA recent report from Transparency International finds that only four of 41 OECD member countries—United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland—actively investigate and prosecute companies for bribery and corruption violations, whereas most others do little or no enforcement. “For the anti-bribery convention to achieve a fundamental change in ...
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Blog
DaVita Healthcare to Pay $350 Million for False Claims Act Violations
DaVita Healthcare Partners, a dialysis services provider, agreed last month to pay $350 million to the Department of Justice to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to physicians or physician groups to induce the referral of patients to its dialysis clinics. “This case involved ...
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Blog
Hyundai, Kia Pay Record $100 Million for Misrepresenting Fuel Efficiency
Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America agreed this week to pay $100 million—the largest civil penalty ever secured under the Clean Air Act—for making inaccurate representations of their vehicles’ performance and emissions. The auto makers also must implement training and enhanced audit testing of their vehicles to prevent such ...
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Blog
HSBC Legal, Compliance Costs Surpass $1.6 Billion
Image: Title: GulliverNov. 4—London-based HSBC Holdings has set aside more than $1.6 billion to cover legal costs in connection with regulatory investigations and to make enhancements to its compliance operations. Of that amount, HSBC set aside $378 million to resolve claims with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority that the bank ...
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Article
CFPB Offers No-Action Letters With Strings Attached
Image: Title: LampeFinancial firms worried about an enforcement action from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may soon get a reprieve. The agency has proposed a no-action letter policy that would let financial firms test the regulatory waters before they roll out new financial products. The application process, however, requires much ...
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ArticleSEC Enforcement Trends: Targeting Gatekeepers and Rewarding Tipsters
The Securities and Exchange Commission brought a record-breaking number of enforcement actions in fiscal year 2014, including several against compliance and audit executives. That should come as no surprise: Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney (pictured above) warned last spring that the SEC wouldn’t hesitate to pursue executives, including compliance professionals, when ...
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Blog
Western Union Gets Its Fourth Compliance Monitor
For the fourth time in as many years, Western Union has received a new independent compliance monitor as part of an anti-money laundering settlement agreement reached with the state of Arizona in 2010. Earlier this month, the Superior Court of Arizona approved the replacement of Western Union’s former court-appointed compliance ...
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Article
Preparing for 2015 Employment Tax Compliance
As companies begin planning for tax compliance in the coming year, they are finding 2015 to be a mixed bag. The good news is that payroll and other tax law changes are minimal; the bad news is that some companies may see hikes in their tax rates. “Thankfully, ...
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Blog
Justice Department Official Stresses Compliance Hallmarks, Failures
Image: Title: MillerYet another Justice Department official is emphasizing the importance of effective compliance programs, this time in the context of avoiding a bribery and corruption probe. In a speech last week, Marshall Miller, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division, said: “The failure to expand compliance programs ...