In a case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and following a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court, two defendants – a senior investment banker and a Chartered Accountant – have been convicted of conspiring to insider deal between November 2006 and March 2010. Three other defendants, Andrew Grant Harrison, Ben Anderson and Iraj Parvizi, have been acquitted.
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Last Friday, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) hosted in Basel, the tenth meeting of the FSB Regional Consultative Group for Europe (RCG Europe) under the co-chairmanship of Anne Le Lorier, First Deputy Governor, Banque de France (see photo) and Jon Nicolaisen, Deputy Governor, Norges Bank. At their meeting, members of the FSB RCG Europe discussed the progress made by two working groups set up by the RCG Europe. One has reported on Nordic experiences of cooperation on cross-border regulation and crisis resolution. The other will start its work on private pension schemes resilience.
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The decision to produce Airmic’s guide to scenario analysis – and support it with a member-only seminar at the annual conference reflects the growing professionalisation of risk management in general and commercial insurance in particular.

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Today, the Central Bank of Nigeria hosted the ninth meeting of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Regional Consultative Group (RCG) for Sub-Saharan Africa in Abuja, Nigeria. At the meeting, members of the FSB RCG for Sub-Saharan Africa began by reviewing the FSB’s work plan and 2016 priorities, namely: promoting full, consistent and timely implementation of the international financial reforms; finalising the design of the remaining post-crisis reforms; and addressing new risks and vulnerabilities.  Continue reading…

The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), announces the appointment of Samantha Sheen as its Director of AML for Europe. Highly regarded as a commercially astute international financial regulatory, crime and risk management expert, Samantha Sheen has developed a strong reputation for excellence at interpreting and applying regulatory strategies, developing robust organisational and procedural policy architecture and implementing global sanctions compliance.

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The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today released OTC derivatives statistics at end-December 2015.  Global OTC derivatives markets saw a broad-based decline in activity in the second half of 2015. The notional amount of outstanding contracts fell by 11% between end-June 2015 and end-December 2015, from $552 trillion to $493 trillion. Trade compression to eliminate redundant contracts was a key driver.
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The SEC froze assets of a ski resort steeped in fraudulent EB-5 offerings. They froze the assets of a company based in Vermont for improperly using money collected from an immigration program, hence, committing fraud. The investors’ money was used illegitimately for developing projects of “ski resort facilities and a biomedical research facility”. The amount totalled 350 million dollars.

Equiniti Group plc, a leading provider of technology led solutions to clients with complex and regulated administration needs, recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of KYCnet BV (KYCnet). KYCnet is an experienced Know-Your-Customer (KYC) technology and services provider which helps organisations verify and on-board their customers.

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published a report proposing a series of measures aimed at enhancing the UK’s debt listing regime.  In November 2015, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched an initiative whereby it began a series of meetings with a specially convened group of stakeholders in UK primary debt capital markets, the UK Debt Market Forum (the Forum). The Forum brought together a wide range of experts from the UK-listed primary bond listed debt markets.

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The Financial Conduct Authority has today published a consultation on its proposed rules and guidance for the secondary annuity market. In March 2015 the Government announced that it would extend the pension freedoms to those who had already bought an annuity with the proceeds of their defined contribution pension savings. The government proposes to do this by changing the tax consequences that currently apply to a person wishing to sell their annuity income, with effect from April 2017.  Continue reading…