All FCA articles – Page 5
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BlogFRC announces investigations into KPMG and PwC
The U.K. Financial Reporting Council, an independent investigative body that monitors and enforces accounting standards, is looking into audits made of financial services companies in the days preceding the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, starting with a delve into the work of two key accountancy firms—KPMG and PwC. Paul Hodgson ...
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Blog
FCA advises on new EU Market Abuse Regulation
The Financial Conduct Authority has published changes to its handbook, “Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules,” to help U.K.-listed companies comply with new EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) from 3 July this year. The handbook and MAR cover a very wide range of “market abuse” issues, such as insider dealing, improper ...
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Blog
FCA must not drop the ball on banking culture reforms
The U.K. Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has issued a report that is not only deeply critical of the FCA’s decision to suspend its culture review of banks but also warns of “serious risks” of future mis-selling scandals. Paul Hodgson examines the report’s impact on U.K. bank culture.
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Article
Year in Review: Regulatory Enforcement in Europe
Image: For compliance officers in Europe, 2015 has been a big year. Aside from focusing on reporting wrongdoing and promoting a speak-up culture, watchdogs have been keeping compliance practitioners busy with a barrage of regulations that show no sign of easing. As compliance officers wonder to what degree the past ...
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Barclays: A Modern Enforcement Action for Modern Misconduct
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 ...
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Latest Review of False Claims Act Compliance
Image: The Justice Department has settled a spate of False Claims Act cases with healthcare providers this fall, pointing to several important trends in FCA cases: increased scrutiny on physician payment arrangements, the broadening scope of whistleblowers, and an upsurge in FCA settlement amounts. “Enforcement agencies are aggressively using all ...
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Blog
U.K. Government Curbs Senior Managers Regime
The U.K’s Finance Ministry is scrapping a key part of the Senior Managers Regime that demanded senior managers prove that they took the necessary steps to prevent employee misconduct. Instead, a new “duty of responsibility” clause will require senior managers to take only the appropriate steps to prevent a regulatory ...
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U.K. FCA: Senior Managers To Be ‘Whistleblower Champions’
Image: The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority is calling on senior managers to serve as “Whistleblower Champions” and to play a lead role in protecting employees who come forward with critical information about misconduct. The rules are part of the Senior Managers Regime, which is slated to go into effect ...
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Blog
Martin Wheatley Resigns as FCA Chief Executive
The Financial Conduct Authority has announced that Martin Wheatley, its chief executive, will leave his post in September 2015. Wheatley was selected in 2013 to shepherd the creation of the U.K. regulator. His resignation was reportedly prompted by news that his contract would not be renewed next year. Director of ...
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Blog
Brit Banking Regulator: Market ‘Cleaner,’ Insider Trading Down
In its most recent Annual Report, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority stated that its "market cleanliness" statistics continue to show a "significant decline in the incidence of potential insider trading cases" since 2009. The improvement coincides with a significant increase in insider trading enforcement in the UK.
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Blog
FCA Fines Compliance Officer £200,000 in ‘Death Bonds’ Case
Image: Title: FordStewart Ford, CEO of now-defunct investment firm Keydata, has been hit with a record £75 million fine by the Financial Conduct Authority—one of the largest fines ever levied on an individual by the FCA. The British regulator also fined the firm’s sales director £4 million and its compliance ...
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Article
Brit Banking Regulators Wield Attestation More Often
Deutsche Bank paid $345 million to British regulators for its role in the LIBOR scandal, $153 million of that stemming from a false attestation the bank submitted about its internal controls. Those attestations are emerging as a potent tool for the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority. “This case sends a strong ...
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Merrill Lynch Fined £13.2 million ($19.8 million) for 35 Million Compliance Lapses
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority fined Merrill Lynch International a record £13.2 million ($19.8 million) for inaccurately reporting more than 30 million transactions and for failing to report another 120,000 transactions over several years. The size of the fine marks the highest ever imposed for transaction reporting failures. Details inside.
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Blog
BNY Mellon Units Fined $185 Million for Custody Rule Compliance Failures
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority this week fined two Bank of New York Mellon firms—Bank of New York Mellon’s London Branch and The Bank of New York Mellon International Limited—a total of $185 million for failing to comply with the FCA’s Custody Rules, which protect safe custody assets if a ...
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Blog
AstraZeneca to Pay $7.9 Million for False Claims Act Violations
Drug maker AstraZeneca this week agreed to pay $7.9 million to the government to resolve allegations that it engaged in a kickback scheme in violation of the False Claims Act. “We will continue to pursue pharmaceutical companies that pay kickbacks to pharmacy benefit managers,” said acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce ...
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Daiichi Sankyo to Pay $39 Million for FCA Violations
Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo this month agreed to pay $39 million to the government to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe Daiichi drugs. “Settlements like this one show that the government will continue to pursue health care companies ...
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Justice Department Intervenes in Whistleblower Suits Against Omnicare
The Justice Department recently intervened in two consolidated whistleblower lawsuits against drug company Omnicare over allegations that it solicited and received millions of dollars in kickbacks from drug maker Abbott Laboratories. “Although the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia is small, we will not waver in our ...
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Blog
Justice Department Nets Record $5.7 Billion From False Claims Cases
Image: Title: DeleryThe Department of Justice obtained a record $5.7 billion in recoveries from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in fiscal year 2014, thanks mainly to massive settlements reached in the financial services and healthcare industries. “In the past three years, we have achieved the ...
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Blog
Banks Fined $4.3 Billion in Foreign-Exchange Probe
In a highly-anticipated series of settlements, regulators from the United Kingdom, United States, and Switzerland today slapped six banks with a total of $4.3 billion in fines to resolve charges that they manipulated the foreign exchange currency-trading market. JPMorgan and Citibank will pay the largest total in fines of $1 ...