Top ethics and compliance failures of 2019
From antitrust and privacy concerns in the tech world to compliance officer liability in the pharmaceutical industry to unethical practices in the banking and accounting professions, more than a dozen companies made Compliance Week’s list of the biggest compliance fails in 2019.
SEC bars former Goldman Sachs director over 1MDB scandal
Former Goldman Sachs Group executive Tim Leissner has settled charges brought by the SEC for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. His settlement includes a permanent bar from the securities industry.
Skills crucial to combating terrorist financing
The pernicious strength of terrorism is its element of surprise: Just when you think it’s disappeared, it rears its ugly head. A proven and effective method of preventing it is disrupting the financial networks used to fund it.
Swedbank announces governance overhaul, launches culture probe
Swedbank CEO Jens Henriksson announced the financial institution is making some major organizational changes “to create simpler and clearer decision-making structures to facilitate the realization of the bank’s strategy.”
Westpac accused of 23M violations of Australian AML rules
Australia’s financial crime regulator has accused Westpac Banking of committing over 23 million breaches of the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules.
Alstom exec convicted of FCPA, money-laundering charges
A former Alstom executive was found guilty by a federal jury for his role in a multi-year, multi-million-dollar foreign bribery scheme and related money-laundering scheme in Indonesia.
DOJ recovers $700M in 1MDB scandal
Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman-turned-fugitive, has agreed to forfeit more than $700 million worth of assets that he and his family allegedly misappropriated from Malaysian’s sovereign-wealth fund, 1MDB.
EY accused in U.K. gold-laundering scheme
Big Four audit firm EY has been accused of covering up evidence of smuggling by an organized crime gang that was laundering British drug money through gold dealings, according to an investigation by the BBC.
Bill to expose shell companies passes House vote
A proposed bill to crack down on anonymous shell companies passed a House of Representatives vote Tuesday and will progress to the Senate.
Singapore regulator: Technology creates both challenges, opportunities
The evolution of technology is enabling myriad capabilities for regulatory and financial crime compliance, but it is also presenting complex financial crime risks, according to a representative from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the International Compliance Association’s second Asia Pacific (APAC) conference this week in Singapore.
Bill requiring shell companies to disclose ownership introduced in Senate
Aimed at fighting money laundering, newly proposed legislation looks to mandate full transparency from shell companies on ownership and also fosters greater communication between financial institutions and law enforcement agencies.
Embattled Swedbank names permanent CCO
Faced with numerous AML investigations, Swedbank made several significant moves this week, including naming a permanent CCO and agreeing to waive attorney-client privilege by handing over an internal report to local prosecutors.
FINMA publishes AML guidance on blockchain
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has published new guidance on how it applies AML rules to the financial services providers it supervises in the area of blockchain technology.
New FinCEN unit to focus on money laundering threats
FinCEN announced the launch of its newly created Global Investigations Division, with responsibility for targeting terrorist financing and money laundering threats, both domestically and internationally.