by Robert Schneider

In an effort to ensure compliance with financial crime regulations, regulators globally are beginning to focus their attention on the corporate sector. Many companies are regarding this new responsibility with scepticism and try to assign it to their banks. However, due to the complexity of the respective regulations, this approach is neither constructive nor a free pass for the future. But by attending to the issue and acting quickly, they can avoid negative effects to their core business.
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We talk a lot about risk appetite, but what does it mean in practice? That was the question posed by Airmic deputy CEO Julia Graham at the Cambridge risk summit. The event also heard from a leading academic that knowledge is an often-neglected area of risk management.

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by Frank van den Nieuwenhuijzen

During the closing dinner of the annual meeting of the Risk and Compliance Platform Europe, Professor Ronald Jeurissen and Professor Sharon Oded debated moral muteness and integrity deafness. Professor Jeurissen stressed the importance of breaking through moral muteness among employees. Professor Oded agreed, but added that integrity deafness within an organisation is at least equally important to address.
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by Christophe Donay

Results from the UK’s referendum on membership of the European Union (EU) indicate that voters have decided the UK should leave the EU. This result is likely to have wide political, economic and financial market repercussions, leading us to alter our economic and market forecasts and, potentially, our asset allocation. Continue reading…

Banks worldwide have been struggling in the battle against financial crime. Recent high-profile examples demonstrate that the rate of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance enforcement is continuing to rise. At the same time, the cost of compliance failure is escalating with fines and provisions increasing by at least 300% during the second half of 2012 compared to the first. If the related impact to banks’ bottom line is not damaging enough, the loss of trust among customers and regulators makes the combined effect potentially life-threatening.
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by Evert-Jan Lammers

If you are not a sponsor, an athlete or a gambler you probably wouldn’t know that the largest running event in Europe took place last weekend in Brussels. But you would know of the coming-up European football championship and the Olympic games. What you should know is that in most sports, big and small, international and local, there is match fixing, doping of athletes, and vote-buying (in bidding). The world of sports is infected. If only we could smell it.
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by Tony de Bree

One of my favourite books on change is this book ‘The Fat Firm’. Why? Because the book mainly uses cartoons to demonstrate the behaviour of employees and managers in large corporates (‘Dinosaurs’ or like in the case of Banking ‘Jurassic banks’). Corporate culture is a hot topic again in large organisations and in management circles. With special attention focus on how managers and employees in large corporates can start to behave like managers and employees in startups. That is why in this column, I will help you in finding the correct ‘levers of change’ for your corporate culture and to transform your organisation from a ‘boss-centric’ one to an organisation with a ‘client-centric’ corporate culture. What is corporate culture?

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by Evert-Jan Lammers

Nobody wants to be spied upon and then reported to the authorities like it happened during the war. Whistleblowers provoke war traumas even to those who have never experienced war. However, whistleblowers are not war-heroes but peace-heroes. No drama then?
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by Kieran Beer

The Panama Papers are justifiably grabbing headlines based on the number of “A-list” politicians and celebrities, as well as the handful of notorious criminals, that they name. And their sheer volume—11.5 million documents—represents an unparalleled look at the machinations involved in the use and abuse of shell companies, in this case those created by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. But it’s important to step back and have a little perspective: the use of shell companies for tax evasion, the proceeds of corruption and other crimes detailed in the papers are outrageous, but sadly nothing new.
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by Evert-Jan Lammers

Some organizations address integrity issues in the in-house magazine, in balanced scorecards, in board meetings, in their communication to stakeholders. Other organizations don’t. Good versus bad company or proactive versus reactive company. Let’s zoom-in on the pro-active companies, the mature organizations. Their board meetings are not only about the what-and-when, but also about the why-and-how. Participants in these meetings dare to speak-up, empowered and protected by shared values. These meeting rooms are light and clear.

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