The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) proposes, subject to consultation, to issue a revised version of International Standard on Auditing (UK) (ISA (UK) 315 (Revised June 2016) Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement Through Understanding the Entity and Its Environment, to reflect recent revisions to the international standards on auditing issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).

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by Michel Klompmaker

The Green Swan is a book written by qualified professionals from the Banque De France and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). It examines the link between the effects of climate change and the stability of the financial sector. It also provides an in-depth survey of how global warming has slowly integrated into macroeconomic models and how they have progressively evolved to form better assessments of stability risks that arise from the phenomenon of climate change. On the other hand, this book also acknowledges the limitations of models and how they may not be able to accurately foresee the financial and economic impact of climate change. Continue reading…

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) launched a review of its monetary policy strategy. The monetary policy strategy was adopted in 1998 and some of its elements were clarified in 2003. Since 2003 the euro area and the world economy have been undergoing profound structural changes. Declining trend growth, on the back of slowing productivity and an ageing population, as well as the legacy of the financial crisis, have driven interest rates down, reducing the scope for the ECB and other central banks to ease monetary policy by conventional instruments in the face of adverse cyclical developments.

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Environment Agency launches campaign (red. in UK) to highlight the impact flood damage has on mental health, advising people on the importance of signing up to flood alerts. Experiencing damage caused by extreme weather such as storms or flooding can increase the chance of facing mental health problems such as stress and depression by 50% while a quarter of people who have been flooded still live with these issues at least two years after the event. This is according to research highlighted by the Environment Agency this Flood Action Week as it urges people to be better prepared for the potentially devastating impacts of flooding.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against Guy S. Griffithe and Robert W. Russell, and three companies they controlled, for an alleged scheme that defrauded investors who thought they were purchasing interests in a Washington-licensed recreational cannabis company out of approximately $4.85 million. The SEC’s complaint alleges that between August 2015 and December 2017, Griffithe, of California, used Renewable Technologies Solution, Inc., an entity he controlled, to sell investors purported ownership interests in SMRB LLC, a Washington company owned by Russell that held a license to grow marijuana under the state’s recreational cannabis laws.

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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined DSG Retail Limited (DSG) £500,000 after a ‘point of sale’ computer system was compromised as a result of a cyber-attack, affecting at least 14 million people. An ICO investigation found that an attacker installed malware on 5,390 tills at DSG’s Currys PC World and Dixons Travel stores between July 2017 and April 2018, collecting personal data during the nine month period before the attack was detected.

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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published the Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation 2019. The report presents the results of the FSB’s annual monitoring exercise to assess global trends and risks from non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI). The annual monitoring exercise is an important part of the FSB’s policy framework to enhance the resilience of NBFI. It covers data up to end-2018 from 29 jurisdictions, which together represent over 80% of global GDP.

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