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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David Kemp contributes to business development in EMEA for Hewlett  Packard Enterprise Software. By profession he is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.  After external counsel experience, he spent ten years in Insurance Broking in London before joining ABN Amro Bank in 1990. With nineteen years there as a corporate banker and in-house counsel & compliance officer, he joined Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) effectively in March 2010. Currently he is using his experience to advance the GDPR programme of HPE, amongst other facilities.

Survey finds a quarter of compliance and IT managers believe Brexit will make their firm exempt from MiFID II. A group of compliance and IT managers have said they believe once the UK leaves the EU, their organisation will be exempt from MiFID II.
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British and European Union banks need a new system to let them do business with each other after Brexit to avoid splitting markets, Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond said on Tuesday. Britain, the EU’s biggest financial market, is leaving the bloc in 2019, raising the prospect of an abrupt cut in cross-border links without a new trade deal. Rival financial centers, including Frankfurt, Paris and Luxembourg, are vying to benefit.

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Criminals will find it more difficult to launder money through the UK thanks to a new government crackdown. The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby, (see photo) has unveiled plans to create a new watchdog that will tackle potential weaknesses in the supervisory system that criminals and terrorists may be trying to exploit. The new Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) will help improve the overall standards of supervision and ensure supervisors and law enforcement work together more effectively.
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published near final rules on the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II. These include changes to the trading of financial instruments including issues affecting trading venues, transparency of trading and algorithmic and high frequency trading. The FCA is also providing an update on the taping of telephone conversations by retail financial advisers.
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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) today published a consultation document on Proposed governance arrangements for the unique transaction identifier (UTI). The consultation sets out proposals for the governance arrangements for a global UTI, as a key harmonised identifier designed to facilitate effective aggregation of transaction reports about over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets.
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This report presents the results of the Basel Committee’s latest Basel III monitoring exercise based on data as of 30 June 2016. The Committee established a rigorous reporting process to regularly review the implications of the Basel III standards for banks, and it has published the results of previous exercises since 2012. Data have been provided for a total of 210 banks, comprising 100 large internationally active banks. These “Group 1 banks” are defined as internationally active banks that have Tier 1 capital of more than €3 billion, and include all 30 banks that have been designated as global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). The Basel Committee’s sample also includes 110 “Group 2 banks” (ie banks that have Tier 1 capital of less than €3 billion or are not internationally active).

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by Brendan Sinnott and Evert-Jan Lammers

The last day’s seminar – entitled “Citizen participation and the risks of corruption” – was mainly to give space to two new distinguished TI founders’ new books on Corruption. Frank Vogl introduced his, entitled “Waging War of Corruption”, where he outlined the evil effects of corruption – mainly to dispel the myth of victimless corruption. He illustrates this with facts about income inequalities eg the Walmart USA CEO who earned 1100 times the average wage of a Walmart shop-floor employee. Vogl writes about victims worldwide – not just in the DRC but elsewhere in Africa, in Nigeria and Russia and mentions the scourge of sexploitation – a subject rarely mentioned or highlighted. 
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by Brendan Sinnott and Evert-Jan Lammers

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. What makes this 17th International Anti-Corruption Conference different from all previous ones? Take the following case. You will see how easy it is to fool the world around you. Continue reading…