The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has imposed monetary penalties amounting to Rs 805 million on 10 banks in August 2019 for noncompliance of regulatory requirements. SBP has disclosed significant enforcement actions taken against banks in the last month aimed to bring more transparency and strengthen the market discipline. According to details issued by State Bank, cumulatively Rs 805.1 million monetary fines were imposed on ten banks during August 2019 for violating laws, rules, regulations, guidelines or directives.

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by Giacomo Luca Aleo

On June 18, 2019 Facebook announced the birth of its own cryptocurrency: Libra, whose name is inspired by Roman unit of measurement, deriving from balance Latin name; the debut is expected for the first half of 2020. The announcement caused, on one hand, a general uproar and, on the other, the value increase of the other cryptocurrencies. The “Libra Association” (no-profit organization) will manage Libra. It currently counts 28 heterogeneous founding partners (with the goal of reaching 100), representing business giants: from Mastercard and Visa to operators of payment system (PayPal, PayU, Stripe), from telecommunications operators (Vodafone and Iliad) to consumer companies (including Booking, eBay, Spotify, Uber), from venture capital such as Andreessen Horowitz to a global exchange Coinbase. Managing Libra actually means manage the Libra Blockchain: it is a permissioned ledgers model, i.e. the management and the validation of transactions is prerogative of a single node, which – in this case – is collective and represented by the Libra Association. The blockchain will record the entire history of the transactions by replicating them in the node; therefore, the transactions will be transparent to all participants of the Libra Association.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges against a Brooklyn individual and two entities under his control who allegedly engaged in a fraudulent scheme to sell digital securities to investors and to manipulate the market for those securities.  The court entered an emergency freeze to preserve at least $8 million of the $14.8 million the defendants raised in 2017 and 2018 in an offering of digital securities.
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by Elina Karpacheva

Innovation is surely a good thing. FinTech makes access to finance fast, easy and accessible which is of great benefit to individuals, households and businesses. However, the increased speed of initiating transactions, the borderless movement of money flows, and anonymity may be exploited for ill-gotten gains. FinTech might be used for terrorist financing, money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, market abuse, and overall undermine the stability of financial system. From this angle, FinTech companies have enormous responsibility towards the society to prevent fraudulent behaviour. Governments around the world have started recognising risks associated with technologically enabled financial innovation. In effect, we see the increased level of regulation with enforcement against the FinTech being one of the priorities. The need of FinTech companies to establish compliance expertise to prevent, detect, and response to financial crime has become apparent. 
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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) inform national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies (collectively, banks) of sound fraud risk management principles. Fraud risk management principles can be implemented in a variety of ways and may not always be structured within a formal fraud risk management program. Regardless of the structure, fraud risk management should be commensurate with the bank’s risk profile. Banks with significant and far-reaching retail-oriented business activities should have well-documented fraud risk management programs with appropriate monitoring, measurements and reporting, and mitigation.

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The Commission is presenting a Communication summarising a set of reports relating to the implementation of the Union’s legal anti-money laundering/ counter terrorism financing framework. The findings aim to point to where implementation can be improved and to foster new discussions with relevant stakeholders to further improve the EU’s work in this field.

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The Commission is presenting a Communication summarising a set of reports relating to the implementation of the Union’s legal anti-money laundering/ counter terrorism financing framework. The findings aim to point to where implementation can be improved and to foster new discussions with relevant stakeholders to further improve the EU’s work in this field.

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Companies will be better protected from fraud, under new Companies House reforms that will do more to safeguard the personal data of business owners and ensure the accuracy of the register. Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst unveiled a substantial package of reforms to Companies House. With the clear aim of minimising the burden on law abiding companies, the reforms will contribute to UK efforts to tackle economic crime by increasing the traceability of company ownership and management while offering business owners and businesses greater protection from fraud.
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It was a clash of old and new. In the lobby of Brussels’ Plaza Hotel were ornate chandeliers, royal portraits and a marble staircase. In the adjacent conference room, compliance officers from across Europe were discussing how the latest trends in technology can help them meet the growing risks to businesses. The experts agreed that some of the most promising risk technologies leverage artificial Intelligence, blockchain and biometrics.
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation regarding the government-proposed Office for Professional Body AML Supervision (OPBAS). The consultation sets out draft expectations about how professional body supervisors can meet their obligations in relation to AML supervision.

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