Although residential and commercial real estate prices are increasingly moving in sync and the role of international investors is growing, this does not mean that there is a global real estate market, a report by the Committee on the Global Financial System finds. Property price dynamics: domestic and international drivers documents recent trends in residential and commercial property prices in over 20 countries, gives an overview of key drivers of price developments and describes policy initiatives used to manage associated risks to the economy and financial stability.

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Congratulations to Nicola Allocca for this well-deserved appointment. We are particularly pleased because we have known Nicola from the beginning of our venture with Risk & Compliance ITALIA and we published his articles about the necessity to eradicating the corruption “cancer” and possible solutions. Legality, NoCorruptionZone, Integrity, Visionary Disobedience are the objectives for which he strives for and the first keywords that come to mind that we associate with his person. This recognition confirms to his valuable and continuous engagement on different levels, not only within his company (AST), but also in the international forum at OECD and in many activities at the university and institutional level.  Continue reading…

by Geert Vermeulen

This article is the first of a series of five articles and will be published in five parts. The second part will be published next week. Often ethics & compliance officers only end up in the news when things have gone wrong. Like in the recent money laundering scandals in the banking industry. In many of these cases, it was actually the management that decided that doing business was more important than being compliant and didn’t invest sufficiently in proper compliance controls and resources. Many people don’t realise that ethics & compliance officers also prevent numerous crimes. Continue reading…

by Branislav Hock

Airbus is yet another company that resolved its corruption out of the court. But buying a good ethical standing is becoming more complex. After all, a time when the US was the only country offering a settlement to a French company has passed. Paying massive bribes in China to sell aircraft interests many countries. Escaping prosecution is newly for sale in other countries as well. And the fact that France, the UK, and US were able to sell Airbus at a £3 billion settlement shows that this is a lucrative business. Continue reading…

In September 2016, Wells Fargo, a bank with its head office in San Francisco, California came under fire for a huge scandal, which involved accusations of fraudulent sales practices. Employees of the bank opened around 3.2 million fake accounts due to the fact that the culture at Wells Fargo put a lot of pressure onto its employees to reach unrealistic sales goals, causing some employees to even break the law. Since the scandal broke out, the bank has relieved about 5,300 employees due to their illegal behavior and has also gotten rid of the extreme sales goals. The bank was also investigated by Federal prosecutors and Congressional overseers and California, Illinois and Chicago have all put their business partnership with the bank on hold since the event. Continue reading…

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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