Tag: regulation

Department of Labor Proposes to Extend Overtime to 3.6 Million Salaried Workers

The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed new rules that would extend mandatory overtime pay to 3.6 million salaried workers. The proposed rule would guarantee overtime pay for most salaried workers earning less than $1,059 per week, about $55,000 per year. “For over 80 years, a cornerstone of workers’ rights Read More

Biggest Compliance failures

The Most Expensive Financial Compliance Failures of the Last Decade

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 Read More

Rabobank CCO goes free

Regulator ‘Reluctantly’ Dismisses Action Against Ex-Rabobank CCO

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 Read More

EU Investigating Microsoft’s Proposed Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

The European Commission announced that it has opened an in-depth investigation into Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard over anticompetition concerns. Both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard develop and publish games for PC game consoles and mobile devices, as well as distribute games for PCs. In addition, Microsoft also distributes games Read More

Money stacks

SEC Issues Final Incentive Pay ‘Clawback’ Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission finalized its long-awaited so-called “clawback rule” on Wednesday, which would require public companies to recover “erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation” on a wide range of executive officers following a restatement due to misconduct. The SEC had reopened its comment period in June concerning the proposed clawback Read More

Five Companies Lost Directors Over Potential Clayton Act Violations

Seven directors among five companies have resigned from corporate board positions in response to concerns by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division that their roles potentially violated the Clayton Act, the agency announced. Section 8 of the Clayton Act prohibits directors and officers from serving simultaneously on the boards of Read More

FinCEN Issues Final Rule on Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirement

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a final rule implementing a beneficial ownership information reporting requirement. The final rule, which implements the registration and reporting requirements of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), will require “tens of millions” of companies doing business in the United States to report information Read More

Technology code

SEC: Comment Periods Reopened for Several Rulemaking Releases

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has reopened the public comment periods for 11 rulemaking releases and one request for comment due to a technological error resulting in numerous public comments submitted through the agency’s online comment form not being received. The SEC advised that all those who Read More

Stack of papers

U.K. Financial Conduct Authority Fines Sigma $589,000 for Reporting Failures

Sigma, a privately owned brokerage firm, has agreed to pay 531,000 pounds ($592,000) in a settlement with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) resulting from a failure to report certain required transactions. According to the FCA’s Oct. 6 final notice, many of Sigma’s failings resulted from inadequate governance and oversight Read More

PCAOB

PCAOB Fines Four Audit Firms for Failing to File Form APs

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has fined four audit firms for failing to file Form APs and, thus, failing to disclose who led specific audits for the firm and whether any other firms were involved in those audits. Failure to file Form APs in a timely manner is Read More