Financial advice firms are seeking to achieve positive outcomes for their clients when it comes to undertaking research and due diligence, a thematic review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found. The firms in the review were generally able to demonstrate some good practice on the work they did to better understand the quality of the products and services they recommend. However, many firms did not show consistently good practice across all products and services and there is room for further improvement.
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by Event-Jan Lammers

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) can prosecute you in the UK for acts of corruption even if your head offices are based in Belgium, your factory is located in Chile, and your Singapore agent is paying bribes in Taiwan. If your organization has a close connection to the UK, for example an English business partner, one day you will feel a hand on your shoulder: the SFO has found you. Should this idea keep you awake? Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today launched a Call for Input on the review of retained provisions of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA). The review will consider whether particular CCA provisions remain appropriate or should be modified, updated, or replaced by FCA rules or guidance in order to maintain the right degree of consumer protection for today’s market.
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Visa Inc. and Visa Europe Ltd. announced in November 2015 an agreement for Visa Inc. to acquire Visa Europe. Nordea is a shareholder and member in Visa Europe and expects to recognise a gain following the closing of the transaction. The pre-tax gain for Nordea is expected to be within the range of EUR 90m to EUR 130m in cash, with an additional possible gain on preferred stock amounting to around 25% of the cash portion. In addition Nordea will receive proceeds stemming from divested operations, in which Nordea has claims that are not yet possible to quantify.
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Southwark Crown Court recently ordered almost £2.65 million to be returned to investors who had invested in a fraudulent collective scheme established and operated by Alex Hope. In addition, Mr Hope was made the subject of a Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”) confiscation order to the sum of £166,696. Mr Hope must pay the order in full within three months or face a further sentence of 20 months imprisonment in default, consecutive to the seven year sentence imposed upon him in January 2015.
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Adriaan Kom

Let us walk the tightrope between meeting compliance rules for onboarding customers and delivering sustainable, ethical business growth. David Zalman spoke for almost every boardroom executive when he highlighted the pressure compliance puts on a business. The chairman and CEO of the U.S. financial services company Prosperity Bank commented, “I’ve been in banking since 1978, and today, probably over half of my time is spent with regulatory requirements.”
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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision recently issued the final revised version of the General guide to account opening, first published in 2003. The Basel Committee deems it worthwhile to issue this guide as an annex to the guidelines on the Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism, which was first published in January 2014. These guidelines revised, updated and merged two previous publications of the Basel Committee, issued in 2001 and 2004.
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The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) recently issued a statement on the clearing of deliverable FX instruments. This statement clarifies the expectations of CPMI and IOSCO – as originally set out in the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures — with respect to CCP clearing of deliverable FX instruments and the associated models for effecting their settlement.

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently published the final rules confirming their approach to improving individual accountability for those carrying out wholesale activities, such as algorithmic and high-frequency trading, in banks, building societies, and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) designated investment firms. The rules also provide clarity on aspects of the Regime’s territorial application.

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BRT S.A., with its headquarters in Geneva and London, provides a comprehensive range of insourced as well as outsourced high-tech operational solutions to its clients in the investment community across the globe. Moreover, Ger van Nijkerken, the Director of Business Development at BRT was eager to explain just how BRT achieves this. Continue reading…