Facebook, Inc. will pay a record-breaking $5 billion penalty, and submit to new restrictions and a modified corporate structure that will hold the company accountable for the decisions it makes about its users’ privacy, to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company violated a 2012 FTC order by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information. Highest Penalties in Privacy Enforcement Actions – $148 million States vs. Uber, $230 million British Authority vs. British Airways (proposed), $275 million CFPB and States vs. Equifax, $5 billion FTC vs. Facebook. Source: Federal Trade Commission. FTC.govThe $5 billion penalty against Facebook is the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers’ privacy and almost 20 times greater than the largest privacy or data security penalty ever imposed worldwide. It is one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the U.S. government for any violation.
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The European Banking Authority (EBA) published the findings of its analysis on the regulatory framework applicable to FinTech firms when accessing the market. The Report illustrates the developments on the regulatory perimeter across the EU, the regulatory status of FinTech firms, and the approaches followed by competent authorities when granting authorisation for banking and payment services.
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The Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that they will not take action related to restrictions under the Volcker Rule for certain foreign funds for an additional two years. The three federal banking regulatory agencies have consulted with the staffs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regarding this matter.
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Basil Al Jarah, 70 year citizen from Hull, Unaoil’s former partner in Iraq, pleaded guilty on 15 July 2019 to five offences of conspiracy to give corrupt payments in connection with the SFO’s investigation into Unaoil. The offences relate to the award of contracts to supply and install single point moorings and oil pipelines in southern Iraq.  A court order restricting reporting of the plea was lifted.
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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets’ regulator, has published its technical advice on sustainability considerations in the credit rating market and its final guidelines on disclosure requirements applicable to credit ratings. ESMA, in its advice, has assessed the level of consideration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in both specific credit rating actions, and the credit rating market in general. It found that, while credit rating agencies (CRAs) are considering ESG factors in their ratings, the extent of their consideration can vary significantly across asset classes, according to each CRA’s methodology.
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The European Banking Authority (EBA) published its first Report on the monitoring of liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) implementation in the EU. The EBA’s monitoring of the LCR contributes to a consistent application of EU law and promotes common supervisory approaches and practices in this area. The EBA intends to regularly monitor the implementation of the LCR for EU banks and update this Report on an ongoing basis to set out its observations and provide further guidance, where necessary.
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The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided that as of the start date on 2 October 2019 the euro short-term rate (€STR) will be published at 08:00 CET on each TARGET2 business day. If errors are detected following the publication of €STR that affect €STR by more than 2 basis points, the ECB will revise and re-publish €STR on the same day at 09:00 CET. No changes will be made to €STR after that time. €STR will be published on the ECB’s website, via the Market Information Dissemination (MID) platform, and through the ECB’s Statistical Data Warehouse. Technical specifications for the rate publication will be made available in September 2019.
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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets’ regulator, has published a statement addressed to providers marketing, distributing or selling contracts for differences (CFDs) to retail clients. The statement is in response to various practices and situations observed in the market, which raise concerns of non-compliance with the legal requirements applicable when providing services to retail clients.

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On 13 July 2017, Richard Baldwin was convicted of dealing in criminal property between October 2007 and November 2008. The criminal property laundered was £1.5 million representing the proceeds of a conspiracy to insider deal by Martyn Dodgson and Andrew Hind. Mr Baldwin used off-shore companies, bank accounts and false invoices to effect his money laundering. The Financial Conduct Authority also brought contempt of court proceedings against him in relation to the breach of a Restraint Order made in June 2011. The Restraint Order prevented him from in any way disposing of, dealing with or diminishing the value of any of his assets within or outside of England & Wales. He admitted his contempt on 13 November 2015.
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HSBC has voluntarily agreed to extend its redress scheme for customers who may have lost out by paying an unreasonable debt collection charge imposed by HFC Bank Ltd (HFC) and John Lewis Financial Services Limited (JLFS), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced. Both HFC and JLFS are now part of HSBC UK Bank Plc. The FCA previously provided updates regarding HSBC’s redress scheme on 20 January 2017 and 26 April 2019.
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