The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to approve the listing and trading of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), opening the door to several new publicly traded funds that track various cryptocurrencies. The SEC’s decision will make bitcoin investing more accessible to investors, without requiring them to own the digital asset […]
The Federal Trade Commission has proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that would place new restrictions on the use and disclosure of children’s personal information and limit companies from profiting from children’s data. With these proposed changes, the FTC intends for the Act to reflect technological […]
Just as in any other industry, the financial industry has its fair share of questionable behavior, and then some. For this reason, an alphabet soup of regulatory oversight — and accompanying fines for non-compliance, violations, and even fraud — exist to keep financial institutions in line. Regulatory bodies like the […]
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) recently announced the launch of a newly created Privacy and Data Protection Task Force, aimed at enhancing data privacy and security practices around consumer communications. This new task force, created by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and led by FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal, is […]
Office workers are using ChatGPT, or similar conversational AI models, for various tasks and purposes. Some of these uses can create risks of which compliance officers should be aware. Here are a few examples: 1) Virtual Assistants: ChatGPT can act as a virtual assistant, helping office workers manage their schedules, […]
GUEST BLOG Effective due diligence is critical to establishing relationships with customers, suppliers, and other third-parties that drive strong revenue generation. How can businesses, including banks and finance companies, balance effective anti-money laundering (AML) efforts, know your customer (KYC) workflows, customer due diligence (CDD), and third-party risk rating workflows with […]
The Department of Treasury on April 25 announced the release of its first ever “De-risking Strategy,” which broadly addresses financial institutions’ de-risking strategies and their impact on certain customers. The strategy further recommended several policy solutions. As described by Treasury, de-risking refers to financial institutions “terminating or restricting business relationships […]
The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has published a memorandum highlighting the incentives U.S. companies and universities can receive when they submit voluntary self-disclosures (VSDs) of U.S. export control violations. In the April 18 memorandum, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod stressed that “effective compliance […]
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced in a final decision that it has “reluctantly” terminated its enforcement action against the former chief compliance officer of Rabobank N.A., the U.S.-based subsidiary of Netherlands-based Rabobank. As CCO, Laura Akahoshi was responsible for overseeing Rabobank’s Bank Secrecy Act and […]
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reached a $100 million settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services for “significant failures” across several areas of its compliance program. The Jan. 4 consent order includes a $50 million penalty and a commitment from Coinbase to invest an additional $50 million in its […]
