Mr. John C Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, made some remarks via a videoconference at the Council on Foreign Relations on 14 January 2022. For past two years, I’ve begun my remarks by saying how much I wish we could meet together in person. This time, I really was hoping for a chance to rewrite the script. After seeing so much progress on vaccinations over the past year and a moderation in COVID-19 infections during the fall, just a short time ago many of us had expected that we’d soon be turning the page. Continue reading…

KPMG has apologised for misconduct and misleading the UK’s accounting regulator after former auditors were accused of “forgery” related to audits including that of Carillion, the major government contractor that collapsed four years ago. Jon Holt, the chief executive of KPMG UK, said it was “clear” that misconduct had occurred, in a statement published to mark the start of a disciplinary tribunal on Monday. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has alleged that KPMG misled its investigators over routine inspections of the audits of Carillion and the software company Regenersis, in 2016 and 2014 respectively. The FRC has alleged that “relevant individuals acted with a lack of integrity in dishonestly or recklessly misleading the regulator”, according to tribunal documents. Continue reading…

The FCA has recently published a Discussion Paper aimed at maintaining a compensation framework that provides appropriate protection for consumers, funded in a fair and sustainable way. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) provides compensation when certain authorised financial services firms are unable to meet claims against them. The FSCS plays a critical backstop role in protecting consumers and ensuring confidence in financial services markets. Continue reading…

Integrating a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) into existing core banking systems is complex and a key prerequisite for issuance. Phase II of Project Helvetia successfully demonstrates that such integration is operationally possible. Issuing a wholesale CBDC on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform operated and owned by a private sector company is feasible under Swiss law. The second phase of Project Helvetia is a joint experiment by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and SIX (Switzerland’s main provider of financial infrastructure services), which also included five commercial banks: Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg and UBS. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has commenced criminal proceedings against the two former directors of Collateral (UK) Ltd (Collateral), Peter Currie and Andrew Currie, who each face two charges under the Fraud Act 2006 and one charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2000.  The FCA alleges that the Curries, who are brothers, dishonestly represented to investors that Collateral was authorised and regulated by the FCA to operate as a peer-to-peer lender knowing this was untrue. Continue reading…

The European Commission has recently presented a key initiative to fight against the misuse of shell entities for improper tax purposes. The proposal should ensure that entities in the European Union that have no or minimal economic activity are unable to benefit from any tax advantages and do not place any financial burden on taxpayers. This will also protect the level playing field for the vast majority of European businesses, who are key to the EU’s recovery, and will ensure that ordinary taxpayers do not suffer additional financial burden due to those that try to avoid paying their fair share. Continue reading…

The European Banking Authority (EBA) recently published its Opinion on the scale and impact of de-risking in the EU and the steps competent authorities should take to tackle unwarranted de-risking. Providing access to at least basic financial products and services is a prerequisite for the participation in modern economic and social life and de-risking, when unwarranted, can cause the financial exclusion of legitimate customers. It can also affect competition and financial stability. De-risking refers to decisions taken by financial institutions not to provide services to customers in certain risk categories. De-risking can be a legitimate risk management tool but it can also be a sign of ineffective money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risk management, with at times severe consequences.

Continue reading…

by Geert Vermeulen

Two former employees of Dutch social housing corporation Vestia have been convicted for corruption. One of them received a 2,5 year jail sentence and the other one was sentenced to 1 year in jail. Cleaning companies, window cleaners and contractors who worked for Vestia paid the two employees large money amounts and goods in kind to get assignments from the housing corporation. The father of one of the employees and two intermediaries were involved as well. The Vestia employees told the suppliers in advance what price they should offer. Vestia estimates that the total damage of the fraud for them has been around EUR 3 million.
Continue reading…

Join the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics for their 10th Annual European Compliance & Ethics Institute, which will be taking place both in-person and virtually to learn about the challenges facing the European and global compliance and ethics community. Hear from today’s compliance and ethics leaders on the latest solutions to your challenges, hear strategies to mitigate risk, and improve your organisation’s compliance program. ECEI’s educational sessions will provide you with the opportunity to earn live Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® continuing education units (CEUs).
Continue reading…