Financial Services


cfpb

News Brief

CFPB could run out of money by fall, report says

2025-08-06T14:00:00+01:00By

The Trump administration declawed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from the very beginning of his second term. It now appears the agency might be running out of money.

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Article

U.K. proposes streamlining regime meant to hold fin serve executives to account

2025-07-31T20:37:00+01:00By

When growth slows, governments often cut rules to attract investment, as the U.K. has in its financial services sector, which contributes 8.8% of GDP, but easing the “compliance burden” raises concerns about oversight, governance, and prioritizing profits over safety.

uk ai

Article

U.K. regulator urges auditors to explain AI use in audits

2025-07-26T02:15:00+01:00By

Plans to push audit firms to disclose how they use AI in audits have been broadly welcomed, but concerns remain over how corporate data is used, secured, retained, and potentially exposed.

SEC

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SEC dodges commitment on climate rule enforcement

2025-07-26T01:58:00+01:00By

The SEC refused to say whether it would enforce its landmark Climate-Related Disclosure Rules in a status report filed Wednesday, deepening uncertainty as the regulation faces legal challenges.

U.S. sanctions

News Brief

Interactive Brokers to pay $11.8M to settle thousands of U.S. sanction violations

2025-07-18T16:33:00+01:00By

A brokerage and investment firm will pay $11.8 million for providing services to individuals under U.S. sanctions, as well as people located in countries sanctioned by the U.S.

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Article

U.K. extends bullying and harassment rules to 37,000 financial services firms

2025-07-14T15:36:00+01:00By

Serious bullying and harassment count as misconduct in regulated financial services firms, per a July 1 clarification by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, which said non-financial misconduct rules now applied only to banks will extend to 37,000 more firms starting September 1, 2026.

Robinhood crypto

News Brief

Florida alleges that Robinhood Crypto’s fee disclosures are inaccurate

2025-07-11T19:43:00+01:00By

The state of Florida is investigating Robinhood Crypto for falsely claiming it charges the lowest fees for processing crypto transactions.

aug21

Webcast

Aug 21 | Banking Compliance in 2025: Key Trends and Future-Proofing Strategies

2025-07-11T18:14:00+01:00Provided by

In addition to a loosening of traditional banking regulation and supervision in areas like capital requirements, stress testing and liquidity, U.S. banking regulators have indicated they will be more receptive to innovation than the previous administration, particularly in the use of Artificial Intelligence, and in digital assets.

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Article

U.K. updates pension and asset manager rules, but internal auditors flag governance gaps

2025-07-09T19:15:00+01:00By

Will “taking an axe to” red tape and onerous reporting commitments free up trillions invested in U.K. pensions and increase the value of assets managed by regulated financial services firms?

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News Brief

CFPB drops $95M enforcement action against Navy Federal, without explanation

2025-07-07T19:02:00+01:00By

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dropped a $95 million enforcement action against Navy Federal Credit Union, the latest regulatory pullback by the agency under President Donald Trump.

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Article

FCA drops ‘naming and shaming’ approach – except in ‘exceptional circumstances’

2025-07-07T17:45:00+01:00By

The UK’s financial regulator has had a rough ride over the past couple of years as its strategy to “name and shame” firms it opened investigations into was widely slammed by the industry and lawmakers over concerns that companies could be unfairly maligned.

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News Brief

Atkins says SEC to embrace innovation, criticizes regulatory uncertainty around tokenization

2025-07-07T17:15:00+01:00By

SEC Chair Paul Atkins pointed to the growth of tokenized shares as a key development reshaping private markets, suggesting the agency is preparing to update its rules to keep pace with new forms of digital asset trading and settlement.

cyrpto home

News Brief

FHFA chief orders Fannie and Freddie to consider crypto assets in mortgage assessments

2025-06-26T20:22:00+01:00By

In another sign of President Donald Trump’s focus on cryptocurrency, the head of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create proposals to consider crypto assets for a single-family home mortgage.

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UK’s Failure to Prevent Fraud law may expose firms to unlimited fines and prosecution, says Moody’s compliance risk expert

2025-06-19T19:28:00+01:00By

Fraud now accounts for around 40% of all crime in the U.K., posing a major problem for banks and consumers. Ted Datta, head of industry practice for financial crime compliance at Moody’s, warns that the risk is growing fast.

Russia sanctions

News Brief

OFAC hits GVA Capital with $216M penalty for servicing sanctioned Russian oligarch

2025-06-13T14:39:00+01:00By

A San Francisco venture capital firm will pay a $216 million fine to the U.S. Treasury for violating U.S. sanctions by managing investments for a Russian oligarch.

SEC office

News Brief

SEC Chair Atkins signals end to ‘regulation by enforcement’ in line with Trump’s pro-crypto agenda

2025-06-07T01:41:00+01:00By

The Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins explained his agency’s shift on cryptocurrency regulation to a Senate committee as legislators bargain over President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and the GENIUS Act, which would have the federal government invest heavily in cryptocurrency.

ESG

News Brief

DOJ says BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street pressed ESG goals to lower U.S. coal output

2025-05-23T18:33:00+01:00By

The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have bolstered a conservative legal effort to dismantle environmental, social, and governance-based investment strategies from three large asset managers by claiming they illegally conspired to artificially raise energy prices.

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Why tight controls matter for financial content on social media, says FPC’s O’Shaughnessy

2025-05-23T15:49:00+01:00By

Financial Planning Corporation is a regulated financial planning firm founded 40 years ago, gaining coveted Chartered status in 2008. As the U.K. financial regulator, the FCA promises to clamp down on unregulated “finfluencers” on social media. Moira O’Shaughnessy, managing partner and head of risk and compliance at FPC, explains why ...

wall street bull

News Brief

Not just for the rich: SEC may make closed-end funds available to retail investors

2025-05-21T14:11:00+01:00By

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins indicated he favors changing the agency’s requirement that only the wealthy can invest in so-called “closed-end” private equity funds and hedge funds.

FTC

News Brief

FTC shuts down student loan firms over deceptive debt relief practices

2025-05-20T12:30:00+01:00By

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action against a pair of student loan debt relief companies for allegedly deceiving borrowers. The move came despite the Trump administration’s broader efforts to roll back enforcement actions against businesses since taking office.

U.S. crypto

News Brief

SEC Chair Atkins advances Trump’s pro-crypto efforts, promising first market rules

2025-05-13T18:42:00+01:00By

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission promised new sets of rules around cryptocurrency assets, saying his team intends to lay out regulatory frameworks around custody and “qualified custodians,” as well as guidelines around issuing and trading. The expected move marks the latest step in the U.S. government’s embrace ...

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News Brief

CFPB drops Google Payment oversight, latest enforcement pullback under Trump

2025-05-13T13:18:00+01:00By

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continued advancing President Donald Trump’s pullback of corporate oversight last week, as it halted supervision of Alphabet’s Google Payment subsidiary. The move followed similar efforts by the Trump administration to weaken government enforcement efforts, particularly concerning digital currencies.

Morgan Stanley3

News Brief

SEC drops Morgan Stanley cash sweep case: Sign of the times?

2025-05-08T21:43:00+01:00By

A decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to close an investigation into the cash sweep program at Morgan Stanley may affect decision-making at other financial institutions under similar scrutiny.

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News Brief

Buy now, pay later firms catch a break as CFPB backs off enforcement

2025-05-07T20:31:00+01:00By

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) signaled a softer regulatory approach last month, easing its investigation of financial firms following the U.S. government’s broader efforts under President Donald Trump to scale back regulatory enforcement on businesses. The agency reaffirmed this pivot as it will ease scrutiny of “Buy Now, ...

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News Brief

FinCEN proposes bar on Cambodian company due to alleged money laundering

2025-05-06T22:57:00+01:00By

A Cambodian financial company, the Huione Group, has laundered billions of dollars for international criminals and those linked to North Korea, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The agency proposes that the company should be severed from having access to the U.S. financial ...

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NYDFS to continue crypto enforcement, Superintendent Harris says

2025-05-01T21:38:00+01:00By

The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), led by Superintendent Adrienne Harris, doesn’t intend to let up on cryptocurrency enforcement, even in the face of pullback from the federal government.

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Delayed UK antitrust case underscores compliance, reputational risks

2025-05-01T14:39:00+01:00By

Antitrust infringement cases in the United Kingdom can run on for years, but there’s a question whether issuing fines that are dwarfed by the revenues of those organisations involved is a worthy deterrent—particularly if they are imposed over a decade after the misconduct ended. It’s also debatable whether the first ...

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News Brief

Trickle of CFPB lawsuit dismissals poised to become a flood

2025-04-24T18:07:00+01:00By

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has quickly become one of the most active agencies advancing the Trump administration’s pullback on prosecuting corporations, as it dropped yet another consumer protection lawsuit against a financial services company Wednesday.

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UK’s deregulation drive raises compliance risk, say top lawyers

2025-04-21T12:00:00+01:00By

The United Kingdom’s latest effort to encourage regulators to pare down rules to attract companies and investment as a way to stimulate the economy has received mixed reviews from lawyers.

CFPB

News Brief

CFPB pullback signals further shift toward industry-friendly regulation

2025-04-18T17:45:00+01:00By

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues to unravel amid pressure from Trump administration officials to shutter the agency. Not only has the agency informed its employees that it will no longer be a watchdog for the financial services industry, it has also laid off employees despite court orders blocking ...

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Ex-FBI informant says three things can save companies from themselves

2025-04-17T12:00:00+01:00By

Tom Hardin paid the price for crossing legal and ethical lines as a financial analyst accused of insider trading in one of the most notorious Wall Street scandals. Now he’s on a mission to save businesses from themselves. A keynote speaker at Compliance Week National, he built a second career ...

Comerica

News Brief

Trump’s CFPB, dismissing Comerica case, continues to cut down Biden-era lawsuits

2025-04-15T07:30:00+01:00By

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped yet another consumer protection lawsuit against a bank or fintech provider since Donald Trump was sworn in as president in January. This time, it was with Comerica Bank.

Money laundering

News Brief

Banks reported more than $1 B in suspicious activity–much of it fentanyl linked

2025-04-11T16:32:00+01:00By

Banks alerted authorities to $1.4 billion in suspicious transactions in 2024, a big assist in the nation’s fight against crime and fentanyl trafficking, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

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Article

U.K. aims to streamline regulation to boost economic growth as markets fall

2025-04-11T12:00:00+01:00By

The U.K.’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has promised a “radical action plan” to cut the cost of regulation to businesses by a quarter and boost economic growth. Now the Cabinet Office has written to government departments requiring them to justify every quango, with the presumption that these semipublic ...

New York cyber-security

News Brief

New cybersecurity requirements fast approaching for New York financial firms

2025-04-10T16:32:00+01:00By

Many financial firms have mere days to notify New York about whether they have complied with the state’s strict cybersecurity regulations, and to gear up for new requirements rolling out May 1 and beyond.

California flag

News Brief

California Attorney General Bonta warns businesses that FCPA still in full force

2025-04-07T18:13:00+01:00By

The federal government may have paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), but that’s not the case in California, where bribes to foreign officials will be prosecuted, Attorney General Rob Bonta warned.

SEC building

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Republican-led SEC abandons climate rule; Dem commissioner calls move ‘unlawful’

2025-03-28T18:45:00+00:00By

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Republican leadership is abandoning the climate-related disclosure rule package passed last year by Democrats, hoping that the courts will kill regulations already on life support.

PwC

News Brief

FRC fines PwC, auditor combined $4.1M over 2019 work of Wyelands Bank

2025-03-27T13:11:00+00:00By

The U.K. Financial Reporting Council issued penalties against PwC and a former auditor over deficiencies on work related to the 2019 financial statements of now shuttered Wyelands Bank.

Ethereum_web

News Brief

Treasury reversal of OFAC sanctions against Tornado Cash signals eroding AML scrutiny

2025-03-24T20:16:00+00:00By

The U.S. Treasury Department lifted its sanctions against cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash on Friday after a federal appeals court ruled in November the penalty levied by the agency’s Office of Foreign Assets Control was an overreach.

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Making a pitch for compliance: The great chase for stakeholder engagement

2025-03-20T13:44:00+00:00By

Speakers at Compliance Week’s Ethics and Compliance Summit swapped engagement strategies rooted in human behavior, including with through the use of generative AI, free merchandise, and live events, to meet employees where they are.

Federal Reserve

News Brief

Trump picks Fed vice chair of supervision, aims to roll back 2023 bank protections

2025-03-19T13:00:00+00:00By

Federal Reserve Board member Michelle Bowman has been nominated as the board’s vice chair for supervision, a position that oversees regulation of the nation’s largest banks.

SEC office

News Brief

CCO who was ‘sole person controlling’ investment firm charged with recidivist concentration violations

2025-03-19T11:53:00+00:00By

An investment company and its founder, president, and chief compliance officer flagrantly kept violating mutual fund rules for multiple years after settling with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC said in a complaint against the company.

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News Brief

Expert: Treasury’s move to ‘narrow’ BOI requirements would gut AML law

2025-03-18T16:56:00+00:00By

The U.S. Treasury’s effort to dramatically narrow the focus of the Corporate Transparency Act through “emergency” rulemaking would gut the law’s anti-money laundering efforts, a transparency expert said.

SEC office

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SEC postpones compliance date for amendments to investment company names rule

2025-03-17T19:10:00+00:00By

Investment companies will have six additional months to comply with an update to the Securities and Exchange Commission rule aimed at making investment fund names more accurate.

Financial Conduct Authority

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‘Abject failure’: U.K. lawmakers sound off on FCA’s failed 'naming and shaming' enforcement

2025-03-17T14:18:00+00:00By

U.K. lawmakers slammed the country’s chief financial regulator’s hopes of “naming and shaming” firms as part of its efforts to beef up enforcement, denting its credibility in the process and questioning the leadership of its chief executive.

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EU drives ‘omnibus’ of simplifications through landmark sustainability reporting directives

2025-03-13T21:25:00+00:00By

The European Commission has adopted proposals for radical simplifications to the EU’s trailblazing environmental regulations. The commissioners argue that this is a pragmatic response to changing global economics and indicates that they have listened to the concerns of smaller businesses that are struggling to comply with onerous and conflicting rules.

Robinhood

News Brief

Robinhood pays $30M in fines, restitution for faulty AML program, customer disclosures

2025-03-12T18:56:00+00:00By

Robinhood will pay nearly $30 million in penalties for violating Financial Industry Regulatory Authority rules with shortcomings in its anti-money launderingprogram, as well as supervisory and disclosure violations.

SEC office

News Brief

Firm, two execs fined, including ex-CCO, for misappropriating $220K, SEC alleges

2025-03-12T16:01:00+00:00By

Two executives at New York-based Momentum Advisors, including the firm’s chief compliance officer, allegedly misappropriated more than $220,000, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

BIO_web

News Brief

Two senators want to know: What’s the legal basis for suspending enforcement of the CTA?

2025-03-11T16:46:00+00:00By

Two senators behind the Corporate Transparency Act have demanded that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent justify his suspension of one of the law’s anti-money laundering requirements.

Markus Hornburg web

Opinion

Why are CFOs struggling to stay compliant?

2025-03-11T14:37:00+00:00By Markus Hornburg, CW guest columnist

CFOs are tasked with overseeing an organization’s entire financial processes, not least ensuring that financial operations remain compliant with the multitude of global regulations. It’s a heavy burden to carry that might be alleviated slightly with the help of artificial intelligence, writes Markus Hornburg, head of compliance at Basware.