Judicial and law enforcement authorities in Cyprus, Portugal and Latvia have dismantled a criminal network suspected of organising 133 sham marriages in Cyprus to facilitate illegal immigration into the European Union. During a joint action day carried out on 29 January, 15 suspects were arrested: 13 in Cyprus, one in Latvia and one in Portugal. According to the investigations, the criminal network was also involved in human trafficking and money laundering activities, as well as forcing victims into bogus marriages for immigration purposes. Continue reading…

by Robert Houghton

The battle about operating at home, in the office or other locations continues to rage in financial services. Yet in many ways, the debate is irrelevant. The genie is out of the bottle. Ignoring it – even if very few people work from home in an organisation – simply increases risk. This stems from regulators’ calls for a level playing field across home and office when it comes to compliance. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says remote workers must not affect a firm’s ability to continually meet regulations1. Continue reading…

by Alessandro Cerboni

Organisations are complex dynamic systems and for these it is necessary to strengthen Compliance Resilience. When we talk about interactions between agents (people) of a complex system such as an organisation, we most commonly refer to concepts of complex systems theory or simulation systems, which are disciplines created to study and move in complex dynamic systems. Complex systems theory studies the structure and behaviour of systems composed of many interacting parts. Continue reading…

Armis, the asset intelligence cybersecurity company, recently announced, The Anatomy of Cybersecurity: A Dissection of 2023’s Attack Landscape. The 2023 analysis of Armis’ proprietary data offers critical insight into the multifaceted challenges global organisations face when it comes to protecting the entire attack surface. Report findings serve as a blueprint to help security teams worldwide prioritise efforts to reduce cyber risk exposure in 2024. Continue reading…

by Tom Read

In the first part of the article that was published recently (see the related items section), Tom took a close look at 23 stats on big tech’s carbon footprint. He did so by first providing an overview of Tech’s Co2 emissions. He then talked about some stats about the best and worst among the Tech industry and consumer electronics. In this second part, he will take closer look at consumer media, search engines and artificial intelligence, emissions in FinTech and e-commerce, and the road to lower emissions.  Continue reading…

by Tom Read

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the world has increasingly relied on technologies that emit greenhouse gasses. In the 20th century, economies shifted away from mechanical technologies and toward digital technologies that permeate nearly every industry and aspect of life. This large-scale adoption has caused greenhouse gas emissions to increase exponentially. These gasses have dangerously altered the Earth’s atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise an average of more than 1C, and sea levels to rise 8-9 inches (21-24 cm). Continue reading…

by Simon Lelieveldt

We live in challenging times. A range of natural, macro-economic, technical and geopolitical factors influence the world we are living in. These developments shaped prior laws and the behaviour of regulators, supervisors and private companies and will continue to do so. Somewhere along the line, we can see a board member with the task to ensure adherence to law. He or she is responsible for compliance and has a range of compliance managers, advisors, business lines and experts available to help out. Continue reading…

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published its report on liquidity measures, which monitors and evaluates the liquidity coverage requirements currently in place in the EU. Between June 2022 and June 2023, the EU banks’ liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) declined but remained comfortably above the minimum requirement. However, within this review period there were important fluctuations in the components of the ratio, driven mostly by changes in the banks’ allocation of funding deposits and the ongoing reduction of central bank liquidity. Unlike the LCR in domestic currency, EU banks’ LCR in foreign currencies remained below 100%.  Continue reading…