The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined Merrill Lynch a combined $12 million in civil penalties for allegedly failing to file nearly 1,500 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) over a period of a decade. To settle the SEC charges, Merrill Lynch agreed to pay a Read More
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has hit audit firm CohnReznick with a censure and a $20,000 civil penalty for alleged failures to timely disclose disciplinary proceedings brought against the firm by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the PCAOB announced. According to the PCAOB’s disciplinary order, CohnReznick failed to Read More
Bank of America will pay total penalties of $150 million for systematically and illegally double dipping on fees imposed on customers, withholding reward bonuses promised to credit card customers, and opening fake accounts without customer knowledge or authorization. Under the terms of two separate administrative proceedings, issued July 11 by Read More
View, a California-based maker of “smart” windows for office buildings, has settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to disclose $28 million in projected warranty-related liabilities to address a particular defect in its windows, the SEC announced. The regulatory agency said it decided not to impose any Read More
Companies subject to the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) now have more time to come into compliance with the regulations, following a California state court’s ruling that enforcement of the CPRA cannot begin until March 2024. By way of background, in November 2020, California voters approved the CPRA (Proposition 24), Read More
The European Commission has proposed a new regulation intended to streamline cooperation efforts between member countries when enforcing the EU’s data privacy laws, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If adopted, the new law would require European privacy regulators, known as data protection authorities (DPAs), to share more Read More
In a first-of-its-kind enforcement action, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered ACI Worldwide and one of its subsidiaries, ACI Payments, to pay a $25 million civil penalty for improperly initiating approximately $2.3 billion in unlawful mortgage payment transactions. According to the CFPB, this is the first enforcement action Read More
The U.K. Financial Reporting Council (FRC) announced in separate actions that it has imposed sanctions against KPMG and PwC, each relating to statutory audits of the financial statements of Eddie Stobart Logistics. The FRC’s penalties, announced June 29, each included discounted fines. KPMG received a reduced sanction of 877,500 pounds Read More
The Federal Trade Commission has issued new guidance for online marketplaces that need to comply with the INFORM Consumers Act, which officially went into effect June 27. “When consumers buy products from online marketplaces, the identity of the seller is often unclear,” the FTC stated in the guidance. Congress passed Read More
Credit Suisse Securities, a U.S.-based Credit Suisse subsidiary, has been fined $900,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for late and inaccurate reporting in violation of numerous FINRA rules. According to FINRA’s order, from November 2015 through at least March 2023, Credit Suisse reported to the Trade Reporting and Read More
