All Europe articles – Page 9
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Loyalty shares v. one share – one vote: The Florange Act
France will experience a sea change in voting rights next month with the passage of the Florange Act. Adopted in 2014, the Act provides for the automatic granting of double-voting rights to stock held by shareholders for at least two years in a row. Rients Abma, executive director of Eumedion, ...
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EU rule on derivative contracts aims for financial stability
Image: The European Commission has adopted a new set of rules that requires certain over-the-counter credit derivative contracts to be cleared through central counterparties. The rules implement a clearing obligation under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation for credit default swaps. “[The] decision marks another step towards making good on our ...
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The Big Lesson From Compliance Week Europe
Image: The Compliance Week Europe conference last week was a smashing success—a large turnout, of compliance professionals from across Europe (and beyond), who had vigorous discussions on all manner of topics, capped with great Belgian beer. Still, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly writes, the most important lesson from our Europe ...
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Tougher Regulations Lead to Structural Overhaul in Europe’s Biggest Banks
The size and number of European investment banks is shrinking, due to tighter regulations that are causing some big banks to retreat from expansion plans. The move comes as financial firms anxiously await final ring-fencing rules from the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority. More inside.
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PetroBras Denies Potential FCPA Settlement
Image: Last week PetroBras said in an SEC filing that it is not working with U.S. regulators to end the long list of corruption charges leveled against the company. That statement is merely the latest in a long list of unusual events in the compliance spectacle that PetroBras has become, ...
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Britain Moves to Increase Corporate Transparency
U.K. companies will soon be required to create a register of owners who hold “significant control” over a company and its assets. Under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, companies will have to create and maintain a database of information about their decision makers that can be accessed ...
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Get Ready For the Biggest Stress-Test of Them All
Image: Greece in default, China teetering on recession, stock markets shuddering worldwide and interest rates poised for their first increase in years—suddenly, all those exercises in risk management that banks have done in the Dodd-Frank era face their ultimate test. The only problem, writes Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly: Dodd-Frank ...
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SFO Loses Corruption Trial Against Three
Three men charged with bribery offenses by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office were acquitted last week, after the jury was unable to reach a verdict on one count against the third defendant and was discharged. The SFO had charged the trio, former employees of Swift Technical Solutions, for paying bribes to ...
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EU’s Apple, Amazon, Fiat and Starbucks Tax Inquiry Postponed
Image: The European Commission has placed Amazon, Starbucks, Fiat Finance and Trade, and Apple’s tax probe on hold amid concerns about obtaining information relating to these cases, said European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a testimony before the European Parliament. While Vestager did not give a new deadline for the ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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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Germany's Push For Gender Diversity in the Boardroom Gains Traction
A shifting regulatory landscape in Germany has paved the way for more women to hold supervisory seats in the boardroom. To promote greater gender diversity, across the board, this regulation sets quotas on the country’s public and private sectors. Now, corporate Germany will have to award at least 30 percent ...
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Compliance Week Europe Conference Takes Shape
Image: Compliance Week is delighted to announce that planning for our 2015 Compliance Week Europe conference is now underway, and we are thrilled about how things are falling into place. Registration for the event is now open, so if you are a compliance officer anywhere from Ireland to Ukraine, we ...
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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 ...