Director accountability is back in the spotlight in the U.K., even as the government pushes for regulatory simplification to cut red tape and drive growth. This raises questions about how boards can be encouraged to take risks to grow their businesses while also being held more accountable for governance failings. As regulators and auditors debate where the line between accountability and ambition should fall, what should compliance managers be advising boards, and what changes are already in progress?
Regulatory Policy
UK’s deregulation drive raises compliance risk, say top lawyers
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.
Google the latest tech loser in antitrust lawsuits targeting alleging anticompetitive practices
A federal judge has ruled that Google “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts” in the advertising technology industry, the latest antitrust setback in what could become a string of losses for tech companies.
AI regulation: U.K. sits on regulatory fence between U.S. and E.U.
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?
Senate Democrats urge DOJ to revive crypto crime unit amid growing enforcement concerns
A small band of Senate Democrats is calling on the Trump administration to reinstate the cryptocurrency investigations unit at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Trump is making it harder for whistleblowers. That’s a problem for corporate America
As U.S. President Donald Trump takes a wrecking ball to the norms, rules, and laws that have governed the United States for decades, whistleblowing as we know it – a way to right wrongs, call out misconduct and hold people accountable – may be under threat.
Trump family buys into crypto as regulators consider soft touch on the industry
Any doubts that the new administration will take a light touch to upcoming cryptocurrency regulation vanished with President Donald Trump’s launch of his own stablecoin and his family’s growing investments in crypto businesses.
Banks reported more than $1 B in suspicious activity–much of it fentanyl linked
Banks alerted authorities to $1.4 billion in suspicious transactions in 2024, a big assist in the nation’s fight against crime and fentanyl trafficking, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
U.K. aims to streamline regulation to boost economic growth as markets fall
The U.K.’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has promised a “radical action plan” to cut the cost of regulation to businesses by a quarter and boost economic growth. Now the Cabinet Office has written to government departments requiring them to justify every quango, with the presumption that these semipublic administrative bodies will be axed or folded back into government departments. The changes are being pushed forward faster because of concerns that President Donald Trump’s imposition of trading tariffs could trigger a global recession.
First he attacked the ‘S’ in ESG. Now Trump’s after the ‘E’ with an EO on state climate laws
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order slamming state-led efforts to address climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related laws.
