All United Kingdom articles
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ArticleEU, UK agree to reset rules on agrifoods, mergers and carbon trading as part of post-Brexit reset
Four years after Brexit, the U.K. and EU announced a “reset” that will ease barriers to importing and exporting food, drink, and agricultural produce. It may also harmonize rules around carbon emissions trading systems, simplifying compliance for multinational organizations that are large emitters, and enable more young people to gain ...
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PremiumUK’s Failure to Prevent Fraud law may expose firms to unlimited fines and prosecution, says Moody’s compliance risk expert
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.
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ArticleCrypto firms brace for tighter UK oversight as FCA plots integration with financial markets
Trying to put rules in place to oversee an industry that has grown largely outside of regulation is not without serious challenges. But the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) latest consultation aims to attract industry views about how some key aspects of crypto trading should be regulated ahead of planned ...
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PremiumBribery risk elevated, experts say, as DOJ narrows FCPA enforcement
When the U.S. Department of Justice announced a six-month enforcement pause of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in February, many speculated that the risks posed by bribery had been lowered. So when the DOJ said last week that it would resume launching FCPA investigations, it may just seem like ...
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ArticleSeven years in, GDPR faces growing challenges from AI and ‘consent or pay’ models
Europe’s pioneering data protection legislation turned seven years old in May, but the compliance and enforcement difficulties that have dogged the rules since they came into force look set to present both companies and data regulators with fresh headaches for some time to come.
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ArticleWhat is AI washing and why companies need to stop exaggerating their AI prowess
The buzz around generative AI has reached fever pitch over the past few years—to such an extent that it’s practically a death knell for any company to say it’s not investing massively in gen AI to transform their business. There’s only one problem: many companies are either being misleading or ...
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ArticleU.K. reins in crypto firms to combat ‘scandal’ of freewheeling finfluencers
Up to 25,000 people a year in the U.K. are illegally promoting financial products or offering financial advice on social media, but none have yet appeared in court, according to the first Treasury Select Committee meeting on the subject of so-called “finfluencers.” Regulated financial services firms must comply with strict ...
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PremiumUK regulator’s efforts to coax self-reporting fraud could fall flat, experts warn
To both clean up corporate behaviour and rack up its own enforcement record, the UK’s anti-bribery agency has seemingly largely guaranteed companies a pass from prosecution if they spill the beans on their misconduct. There’s only one problem: experts believe businesses may still stand a better outcome if they front ...
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PremiumWhy tight controls matter for financial content on social media, says FPC’s O’Shaughnessy
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 ...
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PremiumCalls for audit reforms intensify after hackers attack Harrods and other top UK retailers
Cyberattacks on major UK retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Co-op, left the companies scrambling to reassure customers and staff about stolen data, pushing issues of cybersecurity and cyber resilience back into the national debate. Now the question is whether compliance managers should expect more technology regulations, or will ...
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PremiumQ&A: Symphony general counsel Corinna Mitchell on regulators’ push for supply chain resilience
Secure, resilient communications and trading platforms are critical both to financial services firms and to governments that know their economies depend upon them, says Corinna Mitchell, General Counsel at FS digital communications provider Symphony. That’s why her company is investing more in managing rapidly evolving compliance demands from multiple regulators ...
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PremiumWhy the benefits of bilingual digital accessibility go beyond compliance
Bilingual accessibility and security are key issues for Graham Rivers-Brown, digital transformation director responsible for internal and client compliance at digital transformation consultancy Empyrean Digital. He explains why being based in Wales has helped his company develop compliance expertise that gives it an unusual competitive advantage.
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PremiumDelayed UK antitrust case underscores compliance, reputational risks
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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PremiumDirectors should be more accountable for failure, while also taking more risks, says U.K. regulator
Director accountability is back in the spotlight in the U.K., even as the government pushes for regulatory simplification to cut red tape and drive growth. This raises questions about how boards can be encouraged to take risks to grow their businesses while also being held more accountable for governance failings. ...
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PremiumUK’s deregulation drive raises compliance risk, say top lawyers
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.
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PremiumAI regulation: U.K. sits on regulatory fence between U.S. and E.U.
The U.K. has pressed pause on artificial intelligence regulation as its government comes under twin pressures from those who fear the growing power of unregulated AI and the overriding need to generate growth. The postponement of long-expected legislation means that the U.K. is left sitting on the fence between federal ...
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ArticleU.K. aims to streamline regulation to boost economic growth as markets fall
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 ...
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PremiumFCA faces criticism for email retention policy critics say risks erasing evidence
The UK’s financial regulator has come under fire for its announcement that it is going to delete emails after a year in an effort to become a more “efficient” regulator, raising concerns that it might accidentally erase evidence in the process.
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News BriefU.K. says company boards need to worry more about cybersecurity risks
The U.K. government wants directors and boards of directors to become more actively involved in cybersecurity risks facing public and private companies, as the world faces “alarming” threats from criminal gangs and malicious nation-states. Though many organizations take cybersecurity seriously, the U.K. government says they do not place management of ...
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News BriefEU looking to scale back GDPR in coming weeks
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation has been in effect since 2018, requiring companies to securely handle users’ personal data. The European Commission will reportedly review the regulations and claw back some of the rules, which could make doing business in Europe a little easier for these companies.