- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Neil Hodge2022-08-31T14:25:00
European regulators are taking greater steps to clamp down on companies’ misleading environmental, social, and governance (ESG) claims, but experience shows different countries have differing priorities about tackling dishonest marketing.
While the focus of many countries is to target the biggest offenders capable of harm, there appears to be a split about which industries are most at fault and which regulators should take the lead.
Several European Union countries—including Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands—and the United Kingdom have identified the financial services sector as being one of the biggest culprits, particularly regarding trying to entice pension funds to invest in supposedly green funds. As a result, financial regulators in these countries have been vocal in their desire to see the bloc pass EU-wide legislation to prevent greenwashing.
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The European Securities and Markets Authority, European Banking Authority, and European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority issued reports on greenwashing in the financial sector, describing how they plan to call out examples of false or misleading sustainability claims.
The $19 million fine against DWS Investment Management Americas levied by the SEC wasn’t to punish greenwashing, experts said, but rather a penalty imposed for the firm not doing what it claimed related to its environmental, social, and governance investment strategy.
Asoka Woehrmann, chief executive of DWS Group, has resigned amid an investigation by German officials into allegations of greenwashing within the asset management unit’s investment portfolio.
When the DOJ released its revised Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, it turned some heads. Tucked into a section on risk assessments was a strongly worded series of questions that appeared to shoulder compliance teams with the responsibility for ensuring the safe use of AI tools by their firms.
The Department of Justice’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs has made the importance of artificial intelligence governance frameworks clear, but it didn’t say what role compliance should play. Here’s the answer.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an alert to financial institutions about their obligations to report deepfakes, warning artificial intelligence has given bad actors additional tools in their arsenal.
