All articles by Joe Mont – Page 71
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Article
Volcker Compliance Deadline Creeps Up
Image: For all the political controversy still surrounding the Volcker Rule, its biggest compliance obligation—implementing new controls and training to root out forbidden trading—has a looming deadline in July. “You’ve got to build an infrastructure,” says David Freeman of the law firm Arnold & Porter. “That’s a bigger effort than ...
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Blog
Walmart Touts Compliance Improvements in New Report
In its second annual “Global Compliance Program Report,” Walmart has detailed the compliance enhancements it has made in recent months. Among them: improved compliance training, greater supply chain scrutiny, $40 million invested in new technology, and centralized oversight of license and permit applications. More inside.
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Blog
SEC Eyes ‘Pay for Performance’ Rules Next Week
The SEC will hold an open meeting April 29 to take action on pay-for-performance disclosure rules required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The Commission will consider rules stemming from Section 953 of Dodd-Frank, requiring public companies to disclose the relationship between executive pay and incentives with the financial performance of the ...
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Blog
FDIC Mulls New Recordkeeping Requirements for Big Banks
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is considering new recordkeeping requirements for the nation’s largest banks to streamline the process for reimbursing insured depositors should one of them fail. New recordkeeping standards would likely apply to banks with more than $2 million in account value. Details inside.
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Article
Sentencing Commission Shifts Focus on Fraud Punishments
The U.S. Sentencing Commission has adopted new sentencing guidelines for financial fraud, heaping more punishment on masterminds but reducing penalties for others who might be lower-level minions in such frauds. The change has provoked mixed emotions in the legal community. Some welcome the new flexibility extended to judges as they ...
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Article
Conflict Minerals: From Compliance to Risk Management
Image: As a June 1 deadline nears for companies’ second year of conflict minerals compliance, some might consider life beyond the next Form SD filing to a broader risk management program for suppliers. It can be done, particularly with the OECD’s framework for conflict minerals due diligence. “The entire rule ...
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Blog
White Defends Subpoenaing ISPs for E-Mails
Image: The SEC has long opposed efforts to modernize the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, fearing it could lose the ability to subpoena internet service providers for e-mails. Although ISP subpoenas are currently on hold, privacy concerns could harm investigations, Chairman Mary Jo White told a Congressional sub-committee.
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Blog
Volcker Offers Sweeping New Reform Ideas
Image: Paul Volcker, the famed former Fed chairman and namesake of the most controversial rule in the Dodd-Frank Act, is proposing a slate of financial reform proposals that would merge the SEC and CFTC and create new regulatory agencies. The Volcker Alliance—a non-partisan, non-profit organization launched in 2013—issued a report ...
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Blog
Lockheed Wants Out of 40-Year-Old Disclosure Demand
Lockheed Martin wants a federal judge to end a 40-year-old SEC requirement of advance notice for changes to its anti-bribery policies. Lockheed argues that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, FCPA requirements, and a move to online shareholder information make the requirement obsolete and unnecessary. More inside.
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Blog
House Vote Demands More Transparency from CFPB
The House of Representatives, with a 401-2 vote, has approved legislation that requires the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to comply with Federal Advisory Committee Act transparency requirements. The Federal Reserve, CIA, and CFPB are among the agencies not covered by the law. More inside.
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Blog
Warren on the Warpath: Slams SEC, Pitches Financial Reforms
Image: Slamming the SEC and Justice Department for a “slap on the wrist” approach to enforcement, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in a recent speech, also championed a slate of financial reforms, including a transaction tax to restrain high-frequency trading, restoring the former Glass-Steagall Act, and reducing the size and risk of ...
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Blog
Walmart Prevails in Bid to Drop Shareholder Proposal on Gun Sales
Walmart will no longer be required to include a controversial shareholder proposal regarding its sale of firearms in its 2015 proxy statement, now that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has overturned an earlier opinion on the matter. Trinity Wall Street, associated with New York City’s Trinity ...
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Article
Data Governance 101: Getting Started
Amassing terabytes of data is easy; for most businesses, managing those valuable—and sometimes very risky—assets is the hard part. A successful data governance initiative, experts say, isn’t a project you can hand off to the IT department or solve with a software purchase. Compliance, audit, and risk executives all need ...
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Article
CFTC Case Against Kraft Puts Cos. on Hedge
Image: A novel interpretation of the Dodd-Frank Act is rattling buyers of raw materials. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission is moving against Kraft Foods for a big bet in the wheat market, using a section of Dodd-Frank everyone previously assumed was intended to curb high-frequency traders. “The case shows that ...
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Blog
ISS: CEO Pay Jumps 13 Percent Among Early Filers
The average compensation package for CEOs in the United States rose nearly 13 percent in 2014, driven by increasingly valuable pension plans, according to new research from Institutional Shareholder Services that analyzed early filers in the Russell 3000 index. Among firms that use equity compensation, the median grant date value ...
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Blog
Podcast: How Falling Oil Prices Affect MD&A, Accounting
In our latest podcast, we talk to Elizabeth Paul at PwC about what companies affected by falling fuel prices must consider. That includes ensuring the adequacy of Management Discussion & Analysis disclosures; explaining the extent that increased profits are due to better margins rather than higher revenue; and, for the ...
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Podcast
Podcast: How Falling Oil Prices Affect MD&A, Accounting
In our latest podcast, we talk to Elizabeth Paul, a partner with PwC’s national professional services group, about what companies affected by falling fuel prices must consider. That includes ensuring the adequacy Management Discussion & Analysis disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission; explaining the extent that increased profits are ...
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Blog
SEC May Create One-Stop Database for Investors
The SEC may consider the creation of a new public database that compiles the scattered array of information on financial professionals and securities laws violations. A proposal from its Investor Advisory Committee would link to existing databases run by regulators and self-regulatory organizations. More inside.
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Article
Smarter Approaches to Regulatory Change Management
Image: New regulations gush like a flood these days, forcing compliance officers to think of new ways to manage the current. Inside, we look at the IT strategies necessary to digest regulatory changes, plus the policy and procedure techniques to involve more parts of the enterprise. “It needs to be ...
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Article
Dodd-Frank’s Diversity Disclosures Draw Nearer
Image: While you were worrying about conflict minerals, CEO pay ratios, and the Volcker Rule, another disclosure requirement from the Dodd-Frank Act has been quietly approaching. Any day now, regulators hint, final rules will emerge for how companies assess and report workforce diversity. “A lot of people just weren’t paying ...