ESG is no longer in vogue. But its issues still are.
Almost none of the nearly 200 attendees at Compliance Week’s Third Party Management summit this week said they’re currently working on ESG when informally surveyed. The show-of-hands results marked a dramatic reversal from even just a couple years ago, surprising even attendees in the room.
The Trump administration is preparing to ask the European Union to alter or water down its rules on content moderation on social media, claiming that they hurt the competitiveness of American technology companies.
Secure, resilient communications and trading platforms are critical both to financial services firms and to governments that know their economies depend upon them, says Corinna Mitchell, General Counsel at FS digital communications provider Symphony. That’s why her company is investing more in managing rapidly evolving compliance demands from multiple regulators across international borders.
A significant settlement in a U.S. tax fraud case against Credit Suisse contains numerous compliance lessons related to beneficial ownership and due diligence in mergers and acquisitions.
Antitrust infringement cases in the United Kingdom can run on for years, but there’s a question whether issuing fines that are dwarfed by the revenues of those organisations involved is a worthy deterrent—particularly if they are imposed over a decade after the misconduct ended. It’s also debatable whether the first company to admit that it has been part of a cartel for years should get away scot-free if it agrees to turn over all the dirt on the other members.
Sometimes, it feels like the only thing that’s certain is that tomorrow will be different from today. For an industry that’s focused on rules, regulations, and ethics, that lack of consistency can seem overwhelming. That’s why the next few days will matter so much.
The European Union issued significant antitrust fines against two tech titans, hitting Apple with 500 million euros (U.S. $570 million) and Facebook owner Meta with 200 million euros (U.S. $228 million). The move sought to undermine key parts of both companies’ businesses less than a month after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan for worldwide trade tariffs.
The United Kingdom’s latest effort to encourage regulators to pare down rules to attract companies and investment as a way to stimulate the economy has received mixed reviews from lawyers.
The U.K. has pressed pause on artificial intelligence regulation as its government comes under twin pressures from those who fear the growing power of unregulated AI and the overriding need to generate growth. The postponement of long-expected legislation means that the U.K. is left sitting on the fence between federal deregulation policies in the U.S. and the EU’s ground-breaking AI Act. What does this mean for organizations that want consistency and clarity?
An accessible website should be a basic requirement for businesses, allowing the largest number of people to access a company’s content and services. With technology as an enabler, it also makes good business sense. After all, why would any organization want to hinder customer access? However, many websites are not fully accessible, and when the European Accessibility Act comes into effect on June 28, this will be an issue for compliance managers across Europe – and beyond.
