The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is urging the public to be alert to the growing threat of loan fee scams targeting borrowers. This plea comes as last year over £3.5 million was lost to loan fee fraud and reports to the FCA consumer helpline increased by 44%. Victims of loan fee fraud are often targeted while searching for loans online and are then contacted by fraudsters offering a loan. The scammer tells the victim they have to pay an upfront fee for the loan which they ultimately never receive. Once the first payment is made victims are often persuaded to make multiple payments – last year the average loss was £740.
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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) issued the Fourteenth progress report on adoption of the Basel regulatory framework. The report sets out the adoption status of Basel III standards for each BCBS member jurisdiction as of end-March 2018. It includes for the first time the finalised Basel III post-crisis reforms published by the Committee in December 2017. These recent reforms will take effect from 1 January 2022.

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Complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) drove a 13% increase in the number of complaints made to financial services firms in the second half of 2017, according to figures published by the FCA. During the second half of 2017 a total of 3.76 million complaints were received, an increase of 427,032 on the first half of the year. Complaints about PPI rose by 40% to 1.55 million, the highest level of complaints about PPI for more than four years.
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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published Strengthening Governance Frameworks to Mitigate Misconduct Risk, which provides a toolkit that firms and supervisors can use to tackle the causes and consequences of misconduct.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) publishes its 2017 annual report on the enforcement and regulatory activities of accounting enforcers within the European Union (EU). In 2017 ESMA and European Enforcers continued to engage in regular supervisory convergence activities on IFRS. Moreover, considering the new standards IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers, in October 2017 ESMA published the results of a separate fact-finding exercise on the transitional disclosures regarding these standards. In addition, ESMA conducted a Peer Review on the application of its Guidelines of Enforcement of Financial Information by the National Competent Authorities (NCAs).

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the latest step in its response to the concerns identified through its asset management market study. This is part of a package of remedies to ensure fund managers compete on the value they deliver, and act in the interests of the millions who entrust them with their savings. It includes: Final rules following a previous consultation, focused on the duties of fund managers as the agents of investors in their funds and a consultation on proposed rules and guidance, focused on improving the information that investors get about funds.

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In his speech of Andreas Dombret, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, will focus on regulatory topics in Europe that are of special interest to Brazil as well, namely the finalisation of global post-crisis regulation and the regulatory challenges to be met in a digital financial world.

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Members of the WP29 have issued guidance on how individuals may exercise their rights as data subjects and make use of the controls currently provided by social media platforms. The Working Party 29 (WP29), the group uniting European data protection authorities, announces its full support for the ongoing investigations by national privacy authorities into the collection and use of personal data by and through social media. In addition, the WP 29 will create a Social Media Working Group to develop a long-term strategy on the issue.

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On the 27th of May more than 40,000 runners from 120 different nationalities will occupy the lanes and parks of Brussels, on the occasion of the 20km of Brussels – one of the largest amateur sport events in Europe. Among them will be Team RUN FOR #ZEROCORRUPTION – as you may have guessed this is an initiative from the Belgian chapter of Transparency International. Initiator Evert-Jan Lammers: “The idea came up three years ago at the time of the scandals at FIFA and the Russian Athletics Federation. The Olympics in Rio and the European Soccer championship in France were under preparation. For some years already, Transparency International had its spotlight on the weak governance in the sport industry, and also the increasing problems of match fixing, illegal betting and doping.
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The Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) proposed a rule that would further tailor leverage ratio requirements to the business activities and risk profiles of the largest domestic firms. Currently, firms that are required to comply with the “enhanced supplementary leverage ratio” are subject to a fixed leverage standard, regardless of their systemic footprint. The proposal would instead tie the standard to the risk-based capital surcharge of the firm, which is based on the firm’s individual characteristics. The resulting leverage standard would be more closely tailored to each firm.
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