All articles by Joe Mont – Page 59
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Data collection could be key to battling trade-based money laundering
Trade-based money laundering is a common technique for funding terrorist activities through seemingly innocuous trade activity that essentially hides criminal transactions in plain sight. And it will take the combined efforts of U.S. Customs, FinCEN, the Department of Commerce, and port authorities (and their counterparts in other countries) to compile ...
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Fiduciary duty rules poised to redefine an industry
It sounds reasonable enough: hold broker-dealers and investment advisers to a fiduciary standard when they offer investment advice, specifically with retirement plans. Firms, however, fear that pending rules, split between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Labor, are not in sync and unintended consequences will radically alter traditional ...
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Blog
SEC Petitioned for Gender-Based Pay Ratio Disclosures
An investment adviser to the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund has filed a rulemaking petition with the SEC, seeking a requirement that companies disclose gender-based pay ratios on an annual basis. “We believe that pay equity is a useful and material indicator of well managed, well-governed companies, and conversely, ...
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BlackRock CEO Urges Rethinking of Quarterly Earnings
Image: In recent months an increasing number of investor advocates have expressed concerns that companies worry more about short-term quarterly earnings and estimates, not enough about long-term, sustainable growth. In a Feb. 1 letter to nearly 500 companies, Laurence Fink, co-founder and CEO of BlackRock offered his take, urging “resistance ...
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New Customs Database Triggers Regulatory Concerns
Image: By the end of 2016, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection will require that all cargo shipment details be reported through ACE (Automated Commercial Environment), a new electronic processing system. Use of this system, aimed at automating and consolidating border processing, brings with a number of challenges for both ...
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Debate continues over the practice of quarterly reporting
Amid discussion about reforms to the SEC’s disclosure regime, perhaps no idea is as controversial as the rethinking of how frequently companies must disclose financial information. While it may seem a cornerstone of public filings, quarterly 10-Q financial statements have only been an SEC requirement since 1970. There’s now a ...
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OCC will add "recovery plans" alongside big bank stress tests
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is seeking comment on “enforceable guidance” that will require banks with assets of $50 billion or more to create “recovery plans.” While resolution plans, orchestrated by the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, largely focus on liquidity and asset quality, the ...
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ISS Updates Guidance on Executive Compensation Policies
Leading proxy adviser ISS has updated guidance, in the form of “frequently asked questions,” regarding its approach to executive compensation policies. The document is intended as a general discussion about the way ISS will analyze certain issues in the context of preparing proxy analyses and determining vote recommendations for U.S. ...
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SEC Extends Comment Period for Extractive Payments Rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission has extended its public comment period for its second attempt at a rule requiring the disclosure of payments made to governments by energy and mining companies for extraction rights. The new deadlines are Feb. 16 for the first round of commentary and March 8 for ...
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SEC Committee Ups Ante in Fight Against FASB Materiality Changes
Members of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee are ramping up their fight with FASB over proposals that redefine its approach to materiality in financial statements. The plan is “fraught with the risk that disclosures that are unfavorable to the issuer are disproportionately viewed as immaterial and as a result excluded ...
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New DoL Guidance Has Chilling Effect on Third-Party Relationships
Does your company use sub-contractors or have franchisees? Ever put a vendor compliance program in place? If so, new guidance from the Department of Labor is about to make life more complicated. It broadens how joint employer relationships—where two or more companies cooperatively employ workers—will be defined and applied under ...
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Is Cobalt the Next Conflict Mineral?
Under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict minerals rule, public companies are required to track the source of tantalum, tin, gold, and tungsten in their supply chains. A push is on to require similar measures for cobalt, with a call for additional supply chain due diligence made in a new ...
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The Silver Lining of Sharing Data on Cyber-Risks
After many months of debate, President Obama finally signed the Cyber-Security Information Sharing Act into law. The question businesses are asking: In practical terms, is it good news or yet another cyber-security-triggered migraine? While concerns abound, notably around privacy issues, companies may still find plenty to appreciate in the legislation ...
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Why Is Treasury Cracking Down on Big, Cash-Only Real Estate Transactions?
The real estate sector has remained an Achilles’ heel in anti-money laundering efforts by U.S. officials. Concerns that all-cash purchases of residential properties may be used to hide and launder illicit assets has prompted the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to demand that title insurance companies report the beneficial owners behind ...
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Blog
SEC Adopts Rules to Meet FAST Act Mandates
The SEC has approved interim final rules needed to implement provisions of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act that revise financial reporting forms for emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies. The FAST Act, enacted by Congress last month, includes mandates to revise Forms S-1 and F-1 and allow emerging ...
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Consumer Group Protests Post-Settlement Tax Breaks
Goldman Sachs recently announced that it had reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice and others to resolve civil claims relating to the firm’s securitization, underwriting, and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities from 2005 to 2007. The $5 billion settlement has drawn the ire of U.S. ...
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Blog
NYC Comptroller Expands Proxy Access Demands
On behalf of New York City’s public pension funds, Comptroller Scott Stringer has announced the expansion of an initiative that uses shareholder resolutions to pressure companies to adopt meaningful proxy access bylaws. In 2016, 72 companies will be asked to enact a 3 percent ownership threshold for the ability to ...
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Blog
SASB Unveils Guide for ESG Disclosures
For companies that want to integrate sustainability and corporate responsibility reporting into existing 10-K or 20-F disclosures, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board recently issued a new reference document intended to assist that integration. The implementation guide will help issuers achieve three objectives: identify the industry-specific sustainability topics most likely to ...
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Bad News for Banks: More Regulatory Risk Is Coming, With a Political Twist
Banks can look forward to a 2016 with additional regulatory risk, with rules layered upon rules, heightened capital requirements, and cyber-security casting an ever-darkening shadow. Even political risk is a reason for concern; With a presidential race underway, calls for breaking up big banks, and reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, are ...
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SEC Pushed Toward Creating New Board Composition Disclosures
Image: As businesses become more risk-prone and globalized, investors are demanding that fresh blood be infused into boards. So too are legislators with a desire to leverage SEC disclosures as a tool to bolster the ranks of directors and embed cyber-security knowledge. These efforts place a focus on board composition, ...