The Financial Stability Board (FSB) today published a letter from Mark Carney, Chair of the FSB, which was sent to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in advance of their meeting in Shanghai on 26‑27 February.
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by Andy Scherpenberg

More and more financial institutions are attempting to tackle the issue of fraud, which is taking on new forms and ever larger proportions at a rapid pace. Phishing has been replaced by aggressive ‘vishing’ (voice phishing), which has hoaxed corporates such as Michelin into transferring millions to ill-intentioned parties. The modus operandi has shifted from cyber thugs attempting site takeover to online fraudsters using unsuspecting mule accounts or organized collusions with people who hand over their accounts to be used as transfer accounts while levying a fee for the service.
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Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors have initiated criminal proceedings against 12 persons, including two Members of the Romanian Parliament, following an investigation conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and finalised in July 2015. Continue reading…

by Philipp Härle, Andras Havas and Hamid Samadari

Banks have made dramatic changes to risk management in the past decade—and the pace of change shows no signs of slowing. Here are five initiatives to help them stay ahead. Risk management in banking has been transformed over the past decade, largely in response to regulations that emerged from the global financial crisis. But we believe it could be set to undergo even more sweeping change in the next decade. Indeed, while risk-operational processes such as credit administration today account for some 50 percent of the function’s staff, and analytics just 15 percent, by 2025 those figures could be around 25 percent and 40 percent respectively. Continue reading…

International telecom provider VimpelCom and its subsidiary Silkway Holdings BV (hereinafter referred to as VimpelCom) have accepted a settlement offered by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (DPPS) totaling 397,500,000 US dollars. VimpelCom is headquarted in Amsterdam. The DPPS accuses VimpelCom of the criminal offences bribery of government officials and inaccurate books and records. It concerns the period around the time of gaining access to the Uzbek telecom market and thereafter (from 2006 up to and including 2012).

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Financial advice firms are seeking to achieve positive outcomes for their clients when it comes to undertaking research and due diligence, a thematic review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found. The firms in the review were generally able to demonstrate some good practice on the work they did to better understand the quality of the products and services they recommend. However, many firms did not show consistently good practice across all products and services and there is room for further improvement.
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by Event-Jan Lammers

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) can prosecute you in the UK for acts of corruption even if your head offices are based in Belgium, your factory is located in Chile, and your Singapore agent is paying bribes in Taiwan. If your organization has a close connection to the UK, for example an English business partner, one day you will feel a hand on your shoulder: the SFO has found you. Should this idea keep you awake? Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today launched a Call for Input on the review of retained provisions of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA). The review will consider whether particular CCA provisions remain appropriate or should be modified, updated, or replaced by FCA rules or guidance in order to maintain the right degree of consumer protection for today’s market.
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Visa Inc. and Visa Europe Ltd. announced in November 2015 an agreement for Visa Inc. to acquire Visa Europe. Nordea is a shareholder and member in Visa Europe and expects to recognise a gain following the closing of the transaction. The pre-tax gain for Nordea is expected to be within the range of EUR 90m to EUR 130m in cash, with an additional possible gain on preferred stock amounting to around 25% of the cash portion. In addition Nordea will receive proceeds stemming from divested operations, in which Nordea has claims that are not yet possible to quantify.
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Southwark Crown Court recently ordered almost £2.65 million to be returned to investors who had invested in a fraudulent collective scheme established and operated by Alex Hope. In addition, Mr Hope was made the subject of a Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”) confiscation order to the sum of £166,696. Mr Hope must pay the order in full within three months or face a further sentence of 20 months imprisonment in default, consecutive to the seven year sentence imposed upon him in January 2015.
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