Corruption, cyber threats and transnational organized crime – and the money laundering that greases the wheels of illicit commerce – are high on the list of law enforcement priorities, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

20 May 2013Stuart Gittleman

The list also includes preventing and combatting violent crime, confronting national security threats, ensuring civil rights, “safeguard[ing] the most vulnerable members of our society” and increasing the vigilance against terrorism, Holder said. (more…)

15 May 2013Emmanuel Olaoye

Lenders who work closely with unregulated financial companies should conduct a thorough background check on the track record of such companies if they want to avoid being sanctioned by regulators.

The advice comes a few days after federal prosecutors charged debt settlement company Mission Settlement Agency and four individuals with mail and wire fraud. The charges were the result of allegations that the defendants ran a scheme that victimized more than 1,200 people across the United States. (more…)

14 May 2013Nick Paraskeva

A senior Federal Reserve official wants broker-dealers to hold more capital, and be more closely watched by prudential regulators. He opposed as arbitrary recent proposals to sharply raise bank capital or restrict their size and activity. Regulators should instead ensure that capital is in place in the subsidiaries with the highest risk, such as trading, rather than seeking more debt issuance at the group holding company level.

The comments were made by Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeff Lacker, in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations on the subject of too-big-to-fail banks.  (more…)

Although a federal judge in Brooklyn has not yet signed-off on a deal between HSBC and the Justice Department that would settle allegations that anti-money laundering failures at the bank allowed drug cartels to launder hundreds of millions of dollars, candidates for a lucrative job policing the bank’s compliance with the pact are scrambling to win the work.

14 May 2013Brett Wolf

Consulting firms are not being considered to lead the work, but may be hired to carry it out once a well-recognized anti-money laundering expert is hired as monitor, a source said.  (more…)

Our Governance, Risk & Compliance business was recently named “Operational Risk Software Provider of the Year” at the Operational Risk and Regulation Awards, 2013. The awards celebrate achievements in the area of regulatory compliance – and, for the first time this year included not only operational risk practitioners, but also the service providers and software suppliers who support them.

10 May 2013Thomson Reuters

The recognition of being named “Operational Risk Software Provider of the Year” reflects our commitment to providing customers with intelligent information, which helps to inform their decision-making and risk management processes.

Thomson Reuters Accelus Risk Manager is a comprehensive risk solution that provides leading edge risk quantification and analytics capabilities, designed to be deployed and used by organizations of all sizes. As the increasing requirements of Basel II and Basel III are pushed institutions of all sizes, the ease of use, simplicity of deployment, and overall total cost of ownership of the Accelus Risk Manager solution provides a good alternative to the more expensive solutions offered by traditional software firms. GRC recently further expanded its operational risk capabilities with the acquisition of Avanon, a provider of integrated operational risk management software. (more…)

07 May 2013Compliance Complete News Team

Former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, gave his wide-ranging views on regulatory and risk challenges facing the financial industry in an address on April 25 to a Thomson Reuters Accelus Compliance & Risk Summit in New York.  (more…)

By Phyllis Skupien, Esq., Managing Editor

03 May 2013Phyllis Skupien

The Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted a proposed budget for 2014 that increases its funding to $1.67 billion and would allow the agency to fill an additional 676 positions to meet its goals.

The proposed budget represents a 25 percent increase over last year’s funding.

(Westlaw users: Click here for more stories from Westlaw Journal Securities Litigation & Regulation.)

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A top U.S. Treasury Department anti-laundering official who has played a key role in the development of a controversial proposal to require banks and broker-dealers to better know their customers is leaving the department. Friday will be his last day.

03 May 2013Brett Wolf

However, the departure of Chip Poncy, director of Treasury’s office of strategic policy for terrorist financing and financial crimes, is unlikely to have a significant impact on the development of the soon-to-be-released proposed rule, Treasury sources said. (more…)

A U.S. law to improve tax compliance by U.S. taxpayers with foreign financial assets is creating confusion for foreign financial institutions that must cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service to help enforce the law.

02 May 2013Stuart Gittleman

The law, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, requires U.S. taxpayers with certain foreign financial assets and offshore accounts to report the assets to the Internal Revenue Service.  (more…)

02 May 2013Nick Paraskeva

The United States should recognize it can no longer impose its regulatory solutions on the rest of the world, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission head Harvey Pitt said on Thursday.

“The time when the U.S. could be arrogant is long over, as is the time when it could believe it could hold on to financial services in this country,” Pitt told the Thomson Reuters Accelus annual Compliance & Risk Summit in New York. (more…)