by Eric Crabtree

With the EU Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD) having come into force recently, the financial services sector has reached the end of a period of regulatory change that began with the Mortgage Market Review and the fallout from the 2008 recession. But it is a fact of life in the financial services industry that there is barely time to digest and understand one wave of regulation before another crests the horizon. Accordingly, just as Financial Directors are getting used to working with post-crash legislation, the EU Council and the Parliament have adopted new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will have far-reaching consequences for the financial services sector.  Continue reading…

The Ministry of Transparency, Oversight and Control, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the General Counsel for the Republic, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras)  and SBM Offshore signed a settlement agreement today that closes out the inquiries of the MPF, the MTFC and Petrobras into the payment of undue advantages to employees of Petrobras. The MTFC investigation was suspended as a result of the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding between the MTFC and SBM Offshore in March 2015.  Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently published its third Annual Report, which looks back on the key pieces of work undertaken by the organisation throughout 2015/16. The FCA has also published a report summarising the activities it has undertaken to promote competition in financial services in its first three years.
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Five recommendations to help alleviate some of the costs and concerns affecting correspondent banking activities were set out in a report released today by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). Until recently, banks have maintained a broad network of correspondent relationships, but there are growing indications that this situation might be changing. This implies a threat that cross-border payment networks might fragment and that the range of available options for these transactions could narrow.

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by Geert Vermeulen

The Unaoil case shocked many anti-corruption professionals. An internal whistleblower, or at least somebody with access to a whole lot of inside information, decided to hand over the internal documents of Unaoil to a journalist. After 9 months of research the Huffington Post and Fairfax Media published a 3-part article on the internet under the title ‘The World’s Biggest Bribe’.  Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking input on which areas should be considered as part of its upcoming review of the rules surrounding both investment-based and loan-based crowdfunding.
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Airmic sent top-level Brexit guidance to members EU within hours of the referendum result being known, commenting that the decision “must now surely feature on the list of principal risks for most organisations.”  Although the Leave vote is likely to affect the work of all types of member, whatever their title or role, the association believes that the challenges can be handled within a conventional risk management framework. Indeed, Brexit is an opportunity for members to step up to the plate and demonstrate their relevance and the scope of their skills.
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Two whistleblowers have been handed suspended prison sentences and fined by a court in Luxembourg for their part in leaking the secret files that led to the Luxembourg Leaks investigation and helped reveal widespread aggressive tax avoidance by some of the world’s largest multinational corporations.
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by Jaime Caruana

The rebalancing of policies and improvements to frameworks carry high stakes for central banks. The past few years have confirmed how indispensable the institution has become. Independence, within their mandates, allowed central banks to act with determination to cope with the financial crisis. This determination was critical at the time for putting the global economy on the path to recovery.
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by Adam Oldfield

‘Frictionless Banking’ is one of those industry terms that feels like it has already become a cliché. In reality, it has become a more important topic than ever. Over the last 36 months, the Financial Services industry appears to have reached a consensus on what the term actually means. Broadly speaking, frictionless banking once only referred to the streamlining of back office processes in order to deliver quicker turnarounds and reduce internal costs.

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