The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. will pay more than $135 million to settle charges of improper handling of “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). ADRs – U.S. securities that represent foreign shares of a foreign company – require a corresponding number of foreign shares to be held in custody at a depositary bank.  The practice of “pre-release” allows ADRs to be issued without the deposit of foreign shares, provided brokers receiving them have an agreement with a depositary bank and the broker or its customer owns the number of foreign shares that corresponds to the number of shares the ADR represents.
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The European Banking Authority (EBA) published some initial observations on the post-implementation impact of IFRS 9 on EU banks. This exercise, which builds on the two pre-implementation impact assessments published in November 2016 and July 2017, is mainly based on data extracted from institutions’ supervisory reporting. The initial observations from this exercise are consistent with the forecasts of the second EBA impact assessment report. The report also identifies some areas for ongoing scrutiny and further work from an EBA perspective.
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Author: Fergus Shiel
Pakistan’s anti-corruption court has sentenced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to a seven-year prison term for failing to account for income related to ownership of a steel mill, his second conviction since the 2016 Panama Papers investigation revealed his family’s wealth. The court also fined Sharif $25 million and barred him from holding office once more in its Dec. 24 ruling.  Sharif was acquitted in a second case. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Panama Papers investigation revealed that members of Sharif’s immediate family used offshore companies to buy expensive London properties.
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Author: Will Fitzgibbon
Government officials, arms merchants and corporations have spirited away millions of dollars from destitute West African nations through offshore tax havens, an investigation by journalists from the region and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found. Offshore companies were set up for a global engineering firm that avoided paying millions in taxes to Senegal, one of the world’s poorest countries; for a little-known entrepreneur who won a contract to build West Africa’s largest slaughterhouse and for a well-connected arms trafficker from Chad. In several cases, the companies, as well as the companies’ transactions and offshore bank accounts, were not declared or are only now being revealed in more detail.
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by Dina-Perla Portnaar

Recently, I wrote the article Why organisations need a Chief Spiritual Officer. From the higher consciousness community, I received praise, support and above all confirmation through recognition. For example: “kind of something that you dare to go public with this idea in the Dutch business world, but I so agree”. From the business world, there were a number of critical reactions: should managers and professionals not just use common sense? Is this bla bla or spiritual garbage? Finally, should there be a separate function for meaning and personal growth, similar to the Chief Happiness Officers we have and others?
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China will not stop its cyberespionage campaign against America any time soon, an expert told CNBC. Michael Fuchs, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said the attacks will continue for the foreseeable future. “I think it is very fair to say that China sees this cyberespionage for economic purposes as a necessary component of its national strategy to grow economically and to become a more powerful country, and that it is not going to stop — at least not with the current set of pressure that is being exerted by the U.S. and others,” he said.
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The US markets are on track for their worst December since 1931, when the country was in the grip of the Great Depression. Japan’s main stock index has fallen more than 5% following heavy losses on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 dived in morning trade to its lowest point since April 2017 after US markets lost more than 2% in Monday trading. The US losses followed US president Donald Trump comparing the US Federal Reserve to a bad golfer in yet another Twitter rant. The benchmark S&P 500 has dropped nearly 15% during December and the market is on track for its worst year since 2008.
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by Melvyn Morrison
Our recent Risk Congress at the prestigious Plaza Theatre in Brussels, dedicated to the theme of ‘Countering Economic Crime towards 2023’, was the venue for expert opinions from a number of eminent speakers, including Michaël André, the Head of Enforcement at the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) in Belgium. The FSMA is an autonomous public institution that, together with the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), supervises the Belgian financial sector. For example, Michaël is responsible for the day-to-day and strategic management of the Enforcement department, and for spearheading the investigation process giving rise to possible sanctions (for all areas of supervision).
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by Ryan Lucs

The Justice Department announced charges against two alleged hackers suspected of working on the orders of the Chinese government as part what the U.S. alleges is a long-running effort to steal American intellectual property. The charges were part of a broader move by the Trump administration to push back against what U.S. officials describe as China’s relentless drive to steal American business secrets. The two men, Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong, are part of a “hacking group” known as Advanced Persistent Threat 10, according to an indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York.
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