Roberta Holland
- Blog
U.K. Financial Regulator Issues Priorities for Coming Year
Image: Title: WheatleyBritain’s Financial Conduct Authority released a laundry list of priorities for the upcoming financial year, pledging to continue work on concerns like poor culture and technological developments while ramping up efforts on financial crime, the pensions sector, and individual accountability. “This is an important day in terms of ...
- Blog
European Commission Probes Antitrust Breaches in Bulgaria, Spain, Belgium
Image: Title: VestagerThe European Commission handed down a preliminary decision that a Bulgarian state-owned energy concern was breaching antitrust rules by blocking access to the gas supply infrastructure. It is also investigating breaches in Spain and Belgium. Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner in charge of competition policy, said: “We need to ...
- Blog
European Commission Unveils Tax Transparency Package
Image: The European Commission has unveiled a package of legislative proposals that it hopes will hinder abusive tax practices and aggressive tax planning, by providing greater transparency on what companies pay and where. “Tolerance has reached rock bottom for companies that avoid paying their fair share of taxes, and for ...
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British Regulator Slaps Bank of Beirut With A Hefty Fine
Image: Title: PhilippouBritish regulators are taking action after two former Bank of Beirut employees misled the Financial Conduct Authority about whether the bank had complied with orders to boost its financial crime protections. The bank was fined £2.1 million and is temporarily banned from “acquiring new customers from high-risk” locations. ...
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EU Data Supervisor Pushing Strengthened Privacy Laws
Image: Title: ButtarelliThe European Union’s Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli told officials in Washington that the EU’s ambitious overhaul of its data regulations will “place the individual more firmly at the heart” of technology, by boosting transparency and individual control. Buttarelli said the reforms will be backed by real teeth, ...
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EU Court Annuls European Location Policy for CCPs
The General Court of the European Union has overturned a European Central Bank framework requiring large central counterparties (CCPs) dealing with euro-denominated transactions to be located within the Eurozone. The court ruled that the ECB lacked the authority to require CCPs involved in clearing securities to be located within the ...
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U.K. Financial Regulator Boosting Individual Accountability, Audit Rules
Image: Title: BaileyThe U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority says individual senior managers of financial firms could face sanctions if a breach occurs in their area of responsibility and it’s proven the manager took no reasonable steps to avoid it. “Our new accountability regime will hold all senior managers, including non-executive directors, ...
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EU Agencies Slow to Implement Whistleblowing Policies
Image: Title: O'ReillyDespite a year-old mandate to implement internal whistleblowing rules, only the European Commission and the Court of Auditors have followed through, according to EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly. O’Reilly said, “The public needs to know that the EU institutions welcome whistleblowing and protect whistleblowers against retaliation to make ...
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U.K. Fraud Office Loses Corruption Case, Owes £6M Legal Bill
Image: The Serious Fraud Office is facing a £6M legal bill after a judge dismissed a case in which the agency attempted to retry six people over an alleged fraud using a legal method known as “voluntary bill of indictment.” Justice Hickinbottom said, “Once the dismissal application had been formally ...
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Transparency Watchdog Calls for End to Money Laundering ‘Impunity’
Image: Title: UgazTransparency International is calling on governments around the world to join together to end money laundering. The group says authorities should make it their highest priority to prosecute individuals and banks for conducting illicit financial transactions. TI board chairman Jose Ugaz said the lack of senior ...
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EU Firms Face New AML Rules, Beneficial Ownership Registry
Image: Title: SargentiniThe European Union is pressing forward with its overhaul of anti-money laundering rules to clamp down on tax evasion and the financing of terrorism. The Council of the European Union signed off on the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, tightening due diligence and reporting requirements, creating registers of beneficial ...
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Belgium Eyeing Arrest Warrants for HSBC Managers
It hasn’t been an easy week for London-based HSBC. Rocked last weekend by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Swiss Leaks probe, detailing massive tax evasion by HSBC’s private Swiss bank, HSBC is now faced with the prospect of Belgian authorities issuing arrest warrants for former and current managers ...
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European Commission Probing Belgian Tax Scheme for Unlawful State Aid
Image: Title: VestagerThe European Commission is investigating whether Belgium’s “excess profit” rule, which allows certain companies to get deep deductions on taxable profits by claiming economies of scale stemming from being part of a multinational group, is breaking EU competition laws. “If our concerns are confirmed, this generalized scheme would ...
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U.K. Court Orders Trials for Alstom Units in Bribery Case
According to published reports, a Crown Court judge has ordered two jury trials for separate units of French conglomerate Alstom SA and is holding out the possibility of a third trial as the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office continues its investigation. The Alstom subsidiaries, and four former employees, are accused of ...
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EU Cracking Down on Abuse of Parent-Subsidiary Rules
Image: The European Union has amended its parent-subsidiary directive to prevent national tax authorities from granting benefits to a corporation if its tax arrangement is determined to be not reflective of the company’s economic reality. Initially intended to prevent parent corporations from being taxed twice on profits made by subsidiaries ...
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U.K. Financial Watchdog Will Keep Sharp Eye on Compliance Lapses
News coming from the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority indicates the three-year-old regulator is going to enhance its vigilance of bribery and other financial crimes while keeping close tabs on companies’ controls and processes, according to articles in the Financial Times and FCPA Blog. The FCPA Blog noted that the ...
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U.K. Regulator Places Corporate Culture at Heart of Compliance
Image: Title: BischoffWith the recent release of an annual report detailing compliance gains, the head of Britain’s Financial Reporting Council called on boards to tackle the complex issue of corporate culture to ensure ethical corporate behavior. FRC Chairman Sir Winfried Bischoff said his agency this year will delve into how ...
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Survey: Cyber-Threats a Growing Concern for European Risk Managers
Image: Title: HirsWhile traditional risks due to business interruption and the supply chain remain risk managers’ top concern, cyber-risks are moving up the list, particularly in some European countries. Allianz SE’s Risk Barometer 2015 showed cyber-risks cracked the top five concerns globally for the first time, up from 8th last ...
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EU Bankers Bristle Against ‘Unjustified’ Proposed Structural Changes
Image: Jan. 14—Bankers in the European Union have received support for their continued opposition to the European Commission’s bid to mandate structural changes to the bloc’s biggest banks. The proposal would force some of the biggest banks to stop proprietary trading or split off certain trading activities from deposit-taking activities. ...
- Blog
EU Insurance Sector Ramping Up to Meet New Regime
Image: Jan. 14—Insurers are finally preparing to meet solvency requirements passed nearly six years ago. Member states have until the end of March to transpose the Solvency II Directive into national law, with insurers starting to seek approval in April for their models used to calculate capital requirements. A recent ...