News

The U.K. Serious Fraud Office closed two long-running bribery and corruption cases against Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline—a decision that casts further doubt around the effectiveness of the SFO’s investigatory powers and makes companies question the purpose of entering a deferred prosecution agreement at all.

Facebook behaves like a “digital gangster,” has deliberately broken privacy and competition law, and should be subject to statutory regulation urgently, according to a U.K. parliamentary report.

The Federal Reserve Board permanently barred from the banking industry a former managing director at a non-bank subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase in connection with the bank's referral hiring program.

Dietary supplement maker Herbalife in a regulatory filing provided an update on an ongoing investigation regarding the company’s compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in China.

The Association of Corporate Counsel, a global legal association representing more than 45,000 in-house counsel employed by over 10,000 organizations in 85 countries, has opened its first office in Brussels. It will serve as the nucleus of ACC in Europe, led by new managing director Giuseppe Marletta.

Argos Risk, a third-party risk intelligence solutions provider, announced its partnership with SAI Global on an integrated approach to vendor risk management.

The E3 has set up a special trade channel designed to allow companies in the European Union to circumvent U.S. sanctions in an effort to continue humanitarian trade with Iran.

Goldman Sachs disclosed in a recent quarterly filing that 2018 equity-based pay awards could be subject to clawbacks depending on the results of governmental and regulatory investigations relating to 1MDB.

The SEC has issued new guidance regarding diversity disclosures. Meanwhile, newly proposed legislation would require public companies to annually disclose the gender, race, and veteran status of their board directors, nominees, and senior executive officers.

The European Banking Authority is formally investigating a possible breach of Union law by the Financial Services Authorities of Estonia and Denmark in connection to the Danske Bank money-laundering scandal.

Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. entered into a $15 million multidistrict settlement agreement with the Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program to resolve disputes over the adequacy of McKinsey’s disclosures of connections in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. 

Hilary Wandall, senior vice president, general counsel, and chief data governance officer at TrustArc, explains to columnist Tom Fox why U.S. companies should address data privacy now, regardless of their motivations.

The SEC has proposed expanding the “test-the-waters” accommodation—currently available to emerging growth companies—to all issuers, including investment company issuers. 

Momentum has been on the side of marijuana legalization. Now, there may be progress in allowing banks to legally take part in that expanding retail revolution.

The U.K. government says those executives who mismanage company pension schemes could face a jail sentence of up to seven years.

Cognizant Technology Solutions has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $25 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Additionally, two former executives of Cognizant were charged for their roles in facilitating the payment of millions of dollars in a bribe to an Indian government official. 

The Senate on Feb. 14 confirmed William Barr as the 85th attorney general of the United States, succeeding Jeff Sessions, who stepped down in November.

For a second time, Danske Bank is under investigation in France for suspected money-laundering transactions worth €21.6 million (U.S. $24.4 million) committed between 2007 and 2014.

Expressing their staunch opposition to the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, a group of Senate Democrats have written to the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Communications Commission, urging them to reject the plan.

With a comment period now wrapped up, the CFPB plans to move forward with a proposal to offer firms innovative “trial disclosure programs.”

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are seeking public feedback on the collection, use, and protection of sensitive personal information by financial regulators and private companies.

The SEC was spared setting mandatory arbitration policy when New Jersey’s attorney general argued a shareholder initiative proposed for Johnson & Johnson would be illegal.

The FCC has escalated its war against robocallers by proposing new rules banning illegal spoofed text messages and international calls. There is also a renewed threat of regulation and enforcement against phone companies that fail to deploy effective caller ID authentication plans.

Fenergo, a provider of client lifecycle management solutions for financial institutions, announced Rules as a Service, a cloud-based regulatory rules offering.

Deloitte recently launched its “Reimagine Risk Sensing” solution—an SAP-certified accelerator focused on cognitive controllership.