by Massimo Balducci

It is time to start some evaluation of institutional responses to Covid-19 emergency. Two questions need to be answered in this first evaluation: (a) was the emergency rightly evaluated or was it under- or over- evaluated? And (b) was the medical response correct and was it possible to adjust it via a trial and error approach? Our hypothesis here is that a misleading institutional construction of reality and weaknesses in the management of information might have caused harm possibly greater than the very virus itself. Was the emergency under- or over-evaluated? Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

Last week, the number of registered unemployed (those claiming benefits) in the USA rose to 39 million. The chairman of the FED expects a further increase in the coming month. Meanwhile, last Sunday, May 24, 2020, the New York Times opens with a more than serious report covering the entire front page. Certainly not fake news. The 6 column heading reads “US DEATHS NEAR 100,000, AN INCALCULABLE LOSS”. The full front page is filled with about a thousand names with short descriptions of deaths from Covid-19 based on obituaries. Only 1 percent of the total. And in the meantime, the president of this country, as a kind of “monkey on the rock”, quietly continues to deal unfairly with mainly female journalists from serious media.. We repeat it again, political risks will be one of the biggest risk factors in the coming years. Continue reading…

The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, made a statement on May 11 that the European Banking Authority (EBA) should have disallowed Adam Farkas, its previous Executive Director, from assuming the position of CEO of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), which is one of the main lobbyist groups of the financial sector. An investigation into this matter was subsequently launched after receiving complaints made by several MEPs and the Change Finance coalition. The European Ombudsman is an independent authority that examines complaints made against the EU. As such, Emily O’Reilly has found that the EBA should have rejected Adam Farkas’s move from the EBA to the AFME. Continue reading…

by Alex Movchan

We recently spoke to a special woman, Alkistis Gkiosi, BAcc, ACCA, CIA, CFE, who is known as a Compliance Expert and Internal Controls and Regulatory Affairs Professional. She has gained a lot of international experience, thanks to the various positions she fulfilled initially in the field of external audit and later in internal audit. From internal audit, Alkistis ended up in Cyprus where she is in charge of the compliance department of an international financial services company. Continue reading…

In its judgment pronounced today, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court granted several constitutional complaints directed against the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) of the European Central Bank (ECB). The Court found that the Federal Government and the German Bundestag violated the complainants’ rights under Art. 38(1) first sentence in conjunction with Art. 20(1) and (2), and Art. 79(3) of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz – GG) by failing to take steps challenging that the ECB, in its decisions on the adoption and implementation of the PSPP, neither assessed nor substantiated that the measures provided for in these decisions satisfy the principle of proportionality. In its Judgment of 11 December 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has taken a different stance in response to the request for a preliminary ruling from the Federal Constitutional Court; however, this does not merit a different conclusion in the present proceedings. The review undertaken by the CJEU with regard to whether the ECB’s decisions on the PSPP satisfy the principle of proportionality is not comprehensible; to this extent, the judgment was thus rendered ultra vires. As regards the complainants’ challenge that the PSPP effectively circumvents Art. 123 TFEU, the Federal Constitutional Court did not find a violation of the prohibition of monetary financing of Member State budgets. The decision published today does not concern any financial assistance measures taken by the European Union or the ECB in the context of the current coronavirus crisis.  Continue reading…

by Muel Kaptein

Since the corona crisis, the agenda of compliance officers has changed considerably. But what will the agenda of compliance officers look like when the (semi) lockdown is phased out and organizations start working on their recovery? The recovery phase brings all kinds of new issues and work with it for the compliance function. Below I briefly describe eleven new items for the compliance agenda after the lockdown. Are there items that you think are not addressed in this list or ones that you see differently? In random order, I see the following eleven new items for the compliance agenda.
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by Muel Kaptein

In times of crisis, we have high expectations of our business leaders. We want our business leaders to take their responsibility, make decisions and resolve dilemmas. At such times, the main quality business leaders must possess is a willingness to get their hands dirty, because they will be asked to make decisions that will harm people, no matter what they decide. Experts have listed in the media many qualities business leaders should display in these times of crisis. Now more than ever, business leaders must have faith in their employees who are working from home, show empathy and be humble, focused and self-confident. Other experts tell us that business leaders should now be purpose driven, accountable and long-term oriented. It is true that all these qualities are relevant, but they would seem to suggest that being a leader in these times mainly requires one to focus on slightly different things than usual. After all, aren’t all the aforementioned qualities vital in normal times, too? If we wish to steer our business leaders in the right direction, we must do justice to the situation in which they currently find themselves, i.e. a crisis.
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It is now about ten years ago that Greece received a loan of 110 billion euros from the European countries (with the exception of Slovakia) and the IMF. Europe signed for EUR 80 billion and the IMF for EUR 30 billion, but under strict conditions. All this was due to the enormous anger in 2009 when it appeared that the Greek government, in particular the Ministry of Finance, had systematically published far too rosy figures for the budget deficit. The situation has improved in 2020, and the Greek government can once again operate independently on the capital market, but the ordinary Greek is still experiencing the consequences of the interventions of the imposed measures. The question nowadays, of course, is how the consequences of the current corona crisis relate to the agreements made. Read, therefore, the interview with Isabel Schnabel, Board Member of the ECB. The interview was conducted by Mr Angelos Athanaspoulos and appeared in the Greek daily newspaper, To Vima on April 4.

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by Massimo Balducci

Personally I’m persuaded that compliance approach could teach us something on how to face the COVID-19 crisis. To prove my point I will first of all remind us briefly of the basics of compliance approach. Roughly speaking I daresay that compliance refers to a mechanism of supervision to be used while working in a process oriented way, or, if you wish, in a re-engineered organisation. What implies working in a re-engineered organisation? Whoever is involved in an organised production is called upon all the time to find an answer to the following question: “what am I supposed to do now?” Nobel prize winner H.A. Simon thought that anyone called upon to make such a decision is supported by some mechanisms able to reduce her/his decision making complexity.  Continue reading…

by Geert Vermeulen

Often ethics & compliance officers only end up in the news when things have gone wrong. Many people don’t realise that ethics & compliance officers also prevent numerous crimes and unethical practices, sometimes at the risk of being fired or by risking our health or even our lives. Usually you don’t hear about these cases. I think that we should be more proud of our profession and inform a broader audience what we do to reduce risk and stimulate better business. The final part in this series of “WOW Moments in Compliance,” will be about the World Economic Forum in Davos. The first two parts covered due diligence in the aviation industry and due diligence in the energy industry. The third part was about change of strategy and the fourth part was about ‘those wonderful Greeks.’  Continue reading…