Goldman Sachs has agreed to a censure and a $425,000 fine in a settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to resolve allegations that it failed to report, or inaccurately reported, over-the-counter (OTC) options positions to the Large Options Positions Reporting (LOPR) system. According to the FINRA order, between Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged London-based audit firm Crowe U.K., its CEO, and senior auditor for the firm’s deficient 2018 audit of music-streaming company Akazoo. According to the SEC order, Crowe U.K. “issued a clean audit report of Akazoo’s 2018 financial statements,” but after Akazoo went public in Read More
UBS and several of its U.S.-based affiliates have reached a $1.4 billion settlement to resolve all civil claims brought against it by the Department of Justice (DoJ) relating to UBS’s legacy residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) business in the United States. “With this resolution, UBS will pay for its conduct related Read More
Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval and its bank subsidiary, Corporación Financiera Colombiana (Corficolombiana), will pay $80.8 million in a resolution with U.S. and Colombian authorities for the company’s role in a widespread bribery scheme with Columbian government officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is a landmark FCPA Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced combined penalties of $555 million in the latest enforcement sweep to hit the financial services industry for widespread recordkeeping failures. On Aug. 8, the SEC announced combined penalties of $289 million against 10 broker-dealers, including one dually Read More
A new proposal issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will explore ways for companies to provide investors with more “decision-useful” information about corporate expenses. FASB is encouraging stakeholders to review and provide comment on the proposal by Oct. 30. In a statement, FASB Chairman Rich Jones said investors Read More
A London employment tribunal has awarded a former senior risk and compliance professional at National Westminster Bank (NatWest) approximately 88,000 pounds (US$112,000) for being “unfairly dismissed and discriminated against” while she was undergoing cancer treatment. The employment tribunal’s latest decision, published Aug. 2, focused on what remedies Adeline Willis should Read More
American Express National Bank has been slapped with a $15 million civil penalty for governance and oversight failures related to a third-party affiliate and for regulatory violations relating to certain efforts to retain small business customers, the OCC announced. According to the OCC’s consent order, between 2015 to 2017, “as Read More
The Department of Justice, Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have issued a new joint compliance note, this one describing self-disclosure policies that apply to U.S. sanctions, export controls, and other national security laws. The Read More
UBS Group has been ordered to pay approximately $387 million in total penalties in a global resolution stemming from significant risk management failures by Credit Suisse related to its relationship with hedge fund Archegos Capital Management, the Federal Reserve Board announced. On July 24, the Federal Reserve Board announced a Read More
