The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that US$800 billion to $2 trillion is laundered through worldwide financial systems each year. That’s an astonishing 2-5% of global GDP. The European Banking Federation (EBF) – uniting 32 national banking associations in Europe, representing 5,981 banks with roughly 2.6 million employees – has partnered with SAS to help financial firms worldwide curb the deluge. “Rapidly evolving business and technology render conventional methods for anti-money laundering (AML) inefficient and call for a more innovative approach for fighting financial crime,” said EBF CEO Wim Mijs. “The future of AML is rooted in the use of innovative technologies and shared solutions that, in practice, enhance experts’ judgment and reveal the full picture when dealing with complex criminal networks. We are confident that this collaboration with SAS will help us prepare our members, and the broader banking community, for this new reality.” Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Credit Suisse over £147 million for serious financial crime due diligence failings related to loans worth over US$1.3 billion, which the bank arranged for the Republic of Mozambique. These loans and a bond exchange were tainted by corruption. Credit Suisse has also agreed with the FCA to forgive US$200 million of debt owed by the Republic of Mozambique as a result of these tainted loans. Continue reading…

Two of the three foundations that have filed for damages against TikTok may have invalid claims. TikTok’s lawyers indicate that the foundations have not adhered to statutory deadlines. There is a risk that the two foundations may not be able to continue their case, which would mean that only the SOMI Foundation’s lawsuit will remain active. After the SOMI Foundation sued TikTok in June for an amount of €1.4 billion for large-scale violations of children’s privacy by the social video service, the Take Back Your Privacy Foundation (supported by the Consumentenbond) and the Massaschade & Consument Foundation also filed claims for damages. The two cases are largely similar to the case that SOMI initiated. The three cases are now being heard simultaneously by the court.
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KPMG said it had no choice but to advise Silentnight to file for bankruptcy and be purchased by a private equity firm. This assertion was deemed “fundamentally untrue” by a British disciplinary court. The fact that KPMG attempted to deceive the regulator is unprecedented in the FRC’s history.

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A joint investigation team (JIT) between the Dutch and German authorities has taken down an organised crime group specialised in explosive attacks on Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs). A total of nine suspects have been taken into custody as a result of this 18-month investigation coordinated by Europol and Eurojust. The criminals were producing step-by-step tutorials on how to blow up cash machines, and have been linked to at least 15 ATM attacks in Germany. The cash machines were blown open using homemade explosive devices, posing a serious risk for residents and bystanders. During one of the test runs of an explosion, one of the suspects died, with the other suspect getting seriously injured. Continue reading…

On October 13, the European Commission proposed bespoke arrangements to respond to the difficulties that people in Northern Ireland have been experiencing because of Brexit, by further facilitating the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. This follows extensive discussions over the past months with the UK government, as well as outreach by the European Commission to political leaders, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders in Northern Ireland. It also puts forward ideas based on elements raised in the UK’s Command Paper published in July 2021. The Commission now stands ready to engage in intensive discussions with the UK government, with a view to reaching a jointly agreed permanent solution as soon as possible. The Commission will do this in close collaboration and constant dialogue with the European Parliament and Council. Continue reading…

by Frank Staelens

The EU Whistleblower Protection Directive came into force on 16 December 2019. Member States have up till 17 December 2021 to transpose the new EU regulations into national laws. The latest progress reports show that most Member States will not be able to meet this deadline. Even with some delays in some Member States, most EU organisations with more than 250 employees only have a few months left to organise their compliance, while the average implementation time for non complex environments is two months.  Continue reading…

Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of Financial Stability at the Bank of England, gave a speech on October 13 at the recently held virtual SIBOS 2021 conference. In his talk, he looked at the impact of ‘crypto’ on the stability of the UK’s financial system. He also spoke about how unbacked crypto-assets (eg Bitcoin) and backed crypto-assets for payments (stablecoins) have begun to connect to the financial system, and how regulators are responding to their rapid growth. Note: as this is Mr. Cunliffe’s speech, we as a platform think that it is very important to publish the whole speech without any modifications due to the fact that it was also checked and verified by several experts. What is written beneath is his original speech. You can find all relevant information on his talk, including footnotes, in the link that is provided at the end of the article. 

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Banco di Caribe NV (“Banco di Caribe”) has been sold to United Group Holdings BV (“United”). The sale includes all banking activities of Banco di Caribe in Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and Sint Maarten as well as the insurance and investment activities of Van der Lubbe Assurantiën NV, Bancarib Real Insurance Curaçao NV and BdC Investments BV. The sale agreement was signed on 11 September 2021, by seller Ennia Caribe Holding NV (“ECH”), represented by the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (“CBCS”) and buyer United. ECH is the parent company of the Ennia group. United is an established financial services provider active in Curaçao and six European countries, including financial centres such as Amsterdam, London and Luxembourg. Continue reading…

On September 29, the Basel Committee published the results of its latest Basel III monitoring exercise, based on 31 December 2020 data. The report sets out the impact of the Basel III framework including the December 2017 finalisation of the Basel III reforms and the January 2019 finalisation of the market risk framework. It includes a special feature on exemptions from the leverage ratio exposure measure due to Covid-19, and covers both Group 1 and 2 banks (see note to editors for definitions). The final Basel III minimum requirements will be implemented by 1 January 2023 and fully phased in by 1 January 2028. The average impact of the fully phased-in final Basel III framework on the Tier 1 minimum required capital (MRC) of Group 1 banks is +2.9%, compared to a 1.8% increase at end-December 2019. This higher impact for Group 1 banks and G-SIBs may be partially driven by the different treatment of some outlier banks. Continue reading…