All Rules & Proposals articles – Page 4
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Article
Internal Investigations Just Got a Lot More Complicated
Image: Compliance officers should brace themselves after Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates’ speech last week calling for more prosecution of individuals involved in corporate misconduct—the implications for internal investigations are huge. Inside we have the full analysis of how this policy shift, which sharply splits company and executive interests, will ...
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Article
As Startups Grow, Many Start Needing Compliance Sooner
Once upon a time, start-up companies—whether toiling away in a garage somewhere or moving their way up in the world—rarely even considered a compliance program; that was something they would only need in the future. Now many find that the future comes mighty fast these days. Inside, a closer look ...
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Article
Human Trafficking Lawsuits Expose Companies to Greater Supply Chain Risk
Image: While you were worrying about conflict minerals, class-action lawsuits over cat food and shrimp cocktail have emerged as the new compliance risk. Suits against Nestlé and Costco both claim the companies used shrimp produced using slave labor in Thailand. What’s more, plaintiffs are using required supply chain disclosures from ...
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Article
Investment Advisers Next to Feel AML Scrutiny
Investment advisers have never had to face formal anti-money laundering requirements. That is about to change. A proposed rule by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network adds them to the definition of “financial institutions” and demands comprehensive anti-money laundering programs. That has raised concerns of cost and redundancy and ...
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Article
New NLRB Standard Causes Compliance Joint Pains
Image: The National Labor Relations Board has startled Corporate America with its recent ruling that drastically expands the definition of a “joint employer.” Compliance officers should scramble for all those contracts your company has with staffing agencies, franchisees, and similar parties; review them closely to shed any right of control ...
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Article
How Bad Is SEC Politicking? Pretty Bad
Image: That the SEC endures its share of politics is not exactly news—but the amount of politics, and the sheer partisan in-fighting at the agency? That’s rising. Split votes are more common, published dissents from commissioners more frequent. “Sometimes when I see what’s going on now, I’m sorry I ever ...
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Article
FTC Speaks on Antitrust; Leaves Many Confused
Image: The Federal Trade Commission has finally spoken (for the first time in 100 years) about how it defines the scope of its enforcement authority for anti-competitive business practices. The bad news: Its guidance is short reading and slim on specifics. The lack of detail “may have opened the floodgates ...
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Article
How Can Compliance Manage Chat Risks? That’s Tough
Image: As the financial sector embraces the speed and efficiency of instant messaging services, compliance officers have a new challenge: how to detect misconduct in real time, not in e-discovery after the fact. Vendors are rushing in with new products; the bad news is that regulators are looking into “chat ...
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Article
Undermined! Court Ruling Chisels Away at Conflict Minerals Rule
Corporate America has won a bit of a reprieve (emphasis on “a bit”) in conflict minerals compliance, thanks to the Aug. 18 court decision barring the SEC from requiring companies to disclose whether they are conflict mineral-free. But the duty to analyze your supply chain remains and, thankfully, this year’s ...
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Article
Unpacking the Reporting Challenge in Patent Boxes
Image: For businesses heavy on intellectual property, “patent boxes” are the new tool in your tax strategy—jurisdictions that offer lower taxes on income flowing from IP. A nifty idea, many say (and one that may hit the United States soon), but the compliance and disclosure hurdles are many. The value ...
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Article
The Current State of SEC Whistleblower Guidance
The SEC’s latest guidance on whistleblower protection, confirming that employees need not report misconduct first to the SEC to win anti-retaliation protections, seems at first glance to be good news for internal compliance programs. For corporations as a whole, less so. Inside, we take a deeper look at the limits ...
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Article
Final Pay Ratio Rule Gives a Few Compliance Breaks
Image: Some good news now that the SEC’s much-maligned pay ratio disclosure rule is here: Companies forced to disclose that comparison of CEO compensation to pay of the median employee might find the final rule less onerous than the original proposal from 2013. “The biggest surprise is that the SEC ...
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Article
FAQs, but Few Answers, on Iran Deal Implications
Image: Questions abound on the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. Assuming the agreement comes into force, what does that mean for compliance officers? Nothing easy, as your sanctions effort must shift to more complex due diligence efforts. “The sanctions world is moving from an entity-based inquiry to an entity- and activity-based inquiry. ...
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Article
Comment Letter Conversations Get a Bit Easier
Those awkward conversations you have with SEC staff when they comment on your periodic filings? They’re getting easier. The number of comment letter conversations has fallen 50 percent in the last five years, suggesting overall improvement in financial reporting. “Obviously internal controls have gotten better at companies, and that certainly ...
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Blog
Flying Into Uncontrollable Regulatory Trouble
Image: At a theoretical level, effective compliance programs are fairly straightforward: Risky activity is found; control is implemented; regulatory compliance is achieved. In practice … well, compliance officers may have tougher times ahead. This week, Editor Matt Kelly takes the example of the humble unmanned drone and looks at a ...
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Article
Four Years On, Firms Still Struggle With CFPB Compliance
What have we learned in the four years the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been on the beat? For starters, it’s aggressive, returning $10 billion so far to consumers through enforcement actions. A solid understanding of the CFPB’s compliance program expectations remains elusive, and the mood among firms in the ...
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Article
How Comment Letters Could Shape the Pay Ratio Rule
When the SEC proposed its pay ratio disclosure rule in 2013, it included a list of nearly 60 questions for public comment. The response: 287,547 letters and counting, with plenty of ideas about dealing with foreign workforces, seasonal workers, employee exclusions, and Sarbanes-Oxley certification risks. As the final rule slouches ...
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Article
Firms Prepare for Heightened AML, Due Diligence Expectations
Expect an even greater focus on anti-money laundering efforts in upcoming examinations by the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. That was the message from speakers at a “Compliance Outreach Program” the Securities and Exchange Commission hosted for financial firms last week. What’s more: New Treasury Department rules that could ...
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Article
Product Safety Recalls Create New Breed of Compliance Concerns
Image: Automakers, airbag manufacturers, and even ice cream companies have suffered regulatory wrath over product safety concerns and inadequate recall procedures. Those in the crosshairs, especially if the Consumer Product Safety Commission is involved, are finding that their missteps can come with hefty fines and rigid compliance demands. “Companies that ...
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Article
CFPB’s ‘UDAAP’ Approach Is an Ambiguous Compliance Concern
Image: “Unfair and deceptive practices” have long been an enforcement area for consumer protection. Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is adding an A for “abusive”—and taking away clarity for financial firms about what its UDAAP standard exactly means. “There is no list of clear black-and-white rules, and that’s what ...