The Basel Committee’s oversight body, the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), has endorsed a set of measures to provide additional operational capacity for banks and supervisors to respond to the immediate financial stability priorities resulting from the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on the global banking system. “It is important that banks and supervisors are able to commit their full resources to respond to the impact of Covid-19. This includes providing critical services to the real economy and ensuring that the banking system remains financially and operationally resilient. The measures endorsed by GHOS today aim to prioritise these objectives and we remain ready to act further if necessary,” said François Villeroy de Galhau, Chairman of the GHOS and Governor of the Bank of France. 
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by Ahsan Habib

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is causing widespread concern and economic hardship for consumers, businesses and communities across the globe. The situation is changing quickly with widespread impacts. Cyber hackers hit the U.S. Health and Human Services Department with an attack few days back during a presentation and update on the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Historically these criminals and hackers are as callous as they are opportunistic. We must also be wary of official-looking emails telling bank/FI staff to click on a link to learn more about how to stop the spread of the virus. Financial Crime Watchdogs across the globe has already warned about skimping on Anti Money Laundering and advised to be wary of the incoming flood of fraud. Financial institutions have been advised to remain alert about malicious or fraudulent transactions similar to those that occur in the wake of natural disasters. 
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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has decided to keep the date of application of the transparency calculations for equity instruments of 1 April 2020 unchanged. ESMA has recently been asked by some stakeholders to postpone the date of application – required by MiFIDII/MiFIR to apply from 1 April, on the basis of the extraordinary market circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The application of new tick-sizes was cited as particularly problematic in the current environment. ESMA acknowledges the severity of the situation and is working to alleviate market participants’ burden to the maximum extent possible, as some recent publications show, in particular delaying the application of new obligations which require significant technological changes.
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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…

The decision by governments to close educational facilities and workplaces in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19/Coronavirus will see many more of us than ever before remotely connecting to workplace/school networks from home and will put added strain on online resources. We will also see many people who are used to the protection offered by a corporate/education network working remotely for the first time. This coupled with opportunistic attacks from cybercriminals exploiting people’s fears over this virus outbreak could create a perfect storm for cybercriminal activity. 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…

On January 31, the UK officially left the European Union. During the time following the 2016 referendum, the departments within the UK had to brace themselves and prepare for the uncertain outcomes that could potentially result from the UK’s eventual departure. The National Audit Office (NAO) ended up reviewing around 27 reports on the departments’ work, which illustrates the intensity and scale of the task that lay ahead. As such a task can be complex, these departments were not able to think of and plan in advance for every conceivable scenario and outcome. Between 2016-17 and 2019-20, HM Treasury made about £6.3 billion of added funding available, which would help cover the cost of the UK government’s preparations for their exit from the EU. 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. Therefore, I decided to share a couple WOW moments in compliance. The first article in this series of ‘WOW Moments in Compliance’ was about a case study regarding due diligence in the aviation industry while the second article was on due diligence in the energy industry. The third part, which was published last week was on change of strategy and now this fourth article is on ‘these wonderful Greeks’. 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. Therefore, I decided to share a couple WOW moments in compliance.  The first part of this series of articles was about due diligence in the aviation industry and the second part that was published last week discussed due diligence in the energy industry. The third section will seek to discuss change of strategy.  Continue reading…