Matt Kelly

Image: Corporate America has another example of executive misconduct to ponder as we all break for Christmas: Martin Shkreli, the boorish and now former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals arrested on other fraud charges last week. Most of his deeds, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly says (in his last column as editor), may have been legal—but they were also offensive, and great examples of what corporate ethics is really about.

Image: Now that the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates for the first time in seven years, it’s as good a time as any to worry about risks in the banking system; and thankfully two different regulators—the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the International Organizations of Securities Commissions—have given us some fresh reason to fret, so let’s get to it, says CW Editor Matt Kelly.

Image: A large part of success for compliance programs at hinges on the chief compliance officer’s ability to shepherd change through the organization. But let’s be honest: managing change is not something many big businesses do well. Partly that is because companies today try to achieve too much change too quickly, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly writes; partly companies are not good at change management practices.

Image: Last week the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority whacked Barclays with a fine of £72 million ($109 million) for sloppy oversight of a huge private-client deal brimming with financial crime risk. The more you read the details of the transaction and how poorly bank executives managed it, the more you see how this particular enforcement action speaks volumes to what is important in corporate compliance today. Editor Matt Kelly has more inside.

Image: Monday’s news of the merger between Pfizer and Allergan, one of the largest corporate deals ever, is the high-water market for a huge year of M&A activity. That M&A craze poses huge challenges to compliance officers for third-party risk, from IT systems to count third parties (harder than you think) to crafting strong policies for sprawling global enterprises. Inside, editor Matt Kelly examines some of those headaches—none with easy solutions.

Image: By sad coincidence, Compliance Week held its first-ever conference in Dubai earlier this week, and the conversation inevitably turned to sanctions, money-laundering, and terrorism funding—just days after 130 people were killed in the Paris attacks. Compliance officers must pay attention to those issues like never before, editor Matt Kelly says, and little of what we must do to fight the threat will be easy. More of his thoughts inside.

Image: The big political story this week was the Republican presidential debate, and candidates’ usual complaints that too many Americans are falling behind economically. The big corporate governance story, meanwhile, has been the unraveling of Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The two are tied, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly writes—since Valeant’s misplaced corporate priorities epitomize a socially tone deaf Corporate America. More inside.

Image: Following up on his recent columns on audit risk and company culture, this week CW editor Matt Kelly examines how often the compensation committee talks about risk. A look at the compensation committee charters for the Fortune 50 revealed some depressing results—12 company charters completely omitted the word, “risk,” and the companies that included it, rarely used it in the proper context. See more of Kelly’s thoughts inside.