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Reports: Legal & Compliance Investment in GRC Tools Will Jump 50% by 2026 as Legal Workloads Continue to Expand
Legal and compliance department investment in governance, risk and compliance tools will increase 50% by 2026, according to predictions by Gartner as corporate assurance and integrity leaders seek out technological solutions to help them address increasing regulatory attention on executive risk oversight and monitoring. A separate report by Thomson Reuters underscored the challenges legal and...
Preparing for PFAS Risks: Steps to Proactive Compliance
(Sponsored) Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic chemicals that resist degradation in the environment and accumulate in the human body. The potential risks of PFAS exposure have become a growing concern, with increased media coverage leading to consumer demand for PFAS-free products and regulatory action across the globe. Assent’s Cally Edgren...
AI Arms Race: Banking Industry, Cybercriminals Keep Trading Punches
Feel safe in the knowledge that you’re covered by KYC checks? Are you sure about that? An arms race of sorts is brewing between financial institutions and cybercriminals to see whose sophisticated measures will win out. Tamas Kadar of SEON looks at how to defeat advanced techniques like voice phishing and deepfakes.
Your Company Could Be Subject to Chinese Investment Ban — and You May Not Know
The Biden Administration’s pending crackdown on U.S. investment in certain Chinese technologies, part of an increasingly aggressive posture against foreign actors like China and Russia, may be wider in scope than many corporate leaders currently understand. A trio of national security experts from Lowenstein Sandler weigh in on the broader implications for investment firms.
Can We Talk About Silence From Employers in the Job-Hunting Process?
CCI columnist and compliance author Mary Shirley addresses an often-overlooked scenario in the hiring process: companies going silent or declining to respond to candidate requests for updates.
Why Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Must Be at the Top of CEOs’ Communications Agendas
The scope of a CEO’s job is wide, to be sure, but as data privacy and cybersecurity continue to come to the fore, a group of experts from FTI Consulting argue: Top leaders need to make talking about infosec one of their biggest priorities.
Wave of State Data Protection Laws Is a Gathering Compliance Nightmare
In absence of a single national data privacy law, companies continue to face a multi-state balancing act. Data privacy practitioner Scott Allendevaux sets the scene.
California Poised to Enact Landmark Climate Reporting Rules
While U.S. companies have nervously awaited to see how the SEC would address carbon accounting and reporting requirements, now pending for months and months, California has continued to lead the way on the environmental front with the passage of Senate Bill 253.
How Companies Can Get Ahead Using FedNow
The Federal Reserve’s instant payment system FedNow went live in late July, and dozens of banks and credit unions have already signed up. Nick Botha of AutoRek explores FedNow’s impact on corporate users of U.S. payment services.
Keeping Track of US Efforts to Stem Corruption at Home & Abroad
Susana Sierra of BH Compliance explores why shifted priorities should cause all U.S. companies with Latin American connections to take note.
From Inquiry to Response: What to Do When Regulators Come Knocking for Text Messages
Financial institutions have been hit with billions of dollars’ worth of fines in the past couple of years for failing to preserve business text messages, and Reuters recently reported that the SEC had expanded its probe into Wall Street's use of tools like WhatsApp and Signal. Whether they’re from the SEC, FINRA or CFTC, federal...
Upcoming UK Reforms: Tackling AML Will Require Consolidation, Not Further Fragmentation
With a series of proposed reforms on the table to improve the effectiveness of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulatory structure, First AML’s Simon Luke argues it’s essential to find the right fit for the regime going forward. A 2022 review of the UK’s AML/CTF framework determined that while the overall regulatory approach...
Stuck in the Middle? Succeeding in the Industrial Sustainability Revolution Requires Root & Branch Reform
Stuart McLachlan and Dean Sanders, authors of “The Adventure of Sustainable Performance: Beyond ESG Compliance to Leadership in the New Era,” share their views on the fortitude required of leaders today — and tomorrow. The next industrial revolution is upon us and is driven largely by the climate transition. As business leaders, we are in...
Is Risk Management Actually Making a Difference in Your Organization?
Protiviti’s Jim DeLoach revisits some of his writing from half a decade ago to see if companies are making good on the promise offered by technology to deepen the effectiveness of their risk management processes. Five years ago, I contributed an article to these pages titled, “Does ERM Really Matter in Your Organization?” This article...
What Does Lease Accounting Have to Do With ESG?
Real estate-related assets account for about 40% of global CO2 emissions, which means companies cannot get a handle on their ESG impact without understanding their owned and leased real estate footprint. Joe Fitzgerald of Visual Lease offers tips for leveraging lease management to create a more sustainable future. A staggering 99% of senior real estate...
ASC 606 & IFRS 15 Standards Aren’t New. Why Are So Many Firms Still Falling Short?
Auditors and government agencies have given a wide latitude when it comes to enforcement of ASC 606 and IFRS 15 accounting guidelines. But signs point to that grace coming to an end. Tom Zauli of Softrax says companies would be wise to plan for stricter oversight in the near-term. Since the ASC 606 and IFRS...
Report: Few Companies Are Ready for New Payment Security Standards
Most companies are woefully underprepared to meet an approaching compliance deadline for updated payment security standards, according to a new report. The analysis by Bluefin and S&P Global Market Intelligence found that less than one-third of payment data security professionals surveyed said their organizations have a strong understanding of all the requirements associated with the...
Annual Survey: Companies Spending More Time on SOX Compliance
Nearly three in four organizations are looking for ways to further enable automation of their SOX compliance processes, according to Protiviti’s 14th annual SOX compliance survey, which also found that 58% said they spent more time on SOX compliance in the past year. These findings underline the increasing pressure organizations are feeling from the PCAOB...
UK’s Top Companies Demand ESG Compliance
An analysis of annual reports from the UK’s biggest companies reveals that almost all of them — 90% — will only work with suppliers who share their ESG credentials, while another 3% are integrating those requirements this year. The analysis by OneStream, a corporate performance management platform, found that ahead of new sustainability reporting requirements...
Survey: Majority of Workers Use Generative AI — But Company Policies Lag
More than half of American employees are using generative AI tools at least occasionally to accomplish work-related tasks, according to a new survey by The Conference Board that found while a majority of workers are using these tools, few of their employers have mature organizational AI policies. The Conference Board survey of nearly 1,100 U.S....
Can We Teach Old Watchdogs New Tricks?
“Dumb Money,” which opens in theaters later this month, tells the story of how retail investors turned GameStop, a struggling shopping mall staple, into the world’s hottest company; SteelEye’s Matt Smith tells the story of how federal watchdogs still haven’t learned how to deal with modern market manipulation. When the trailer for “Dumb Money,” a...
How Companies Can Navigate an Increasingly Polarized ESG Landscape
Presidential candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump have targeted corporate ESG policies as politically problematic. But that doesn’t make it bad business. A group of authors from FTI Consulting talk about how corporate leaders can navigate risk around ESG efforts. Christine DiBartolo, Cheyenne Hopkins, Darius Johnson, Jess Roston, Raleigh Miller and Will...
FCA Review Promises to PEP up Global Banking
UK regulators are set to embark on a review of banks’ so-called PEP lists, rosters of people who, because of their political profile, are potential money-laundering risks. The agency’s review caps off a summer of scandal in UK banking as Brexit leader Nigel Farage claimed his bank dropped him over his political views, eventually leading...
AI Has the Power to Revolutionize Fraud Investigations
Regulators and auditors are already using AI for large-scale data analysis, but since most information relevant to investigations is unstructured, current tools and processes are lacking. But AI expert Johannes “Jan” Scholtes says that just as compliance teams and regulators adopted eDiscovery for dealing with large data sets, so, too, can the principles of AI...
New Challenge for US Compliance and Risk Leaders: Aligning With EU Sustainability Directive
Despite the flurry of real and rhetorical backlash against ESG reporting in the United States, many U.S. companies will not be able to escape stringent sustainability reporting requirements emanating from the EU. And the time to gear up for compliance is short, writes Lukas Tunikaitis, sustainability consultant in UL Solutions’ ESG advisory and assurance practice....
Managing Contracts Good First Step Under EU’s New Sustainability Directive
The EU’s updated Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) went into effect this year, and the first wave of companies covered by the order will be due to report in their 2025 annual reports for the 2024 fiscal year. Jim Leason of Agiloft and Ossian Nilsson of EY offer a path to paving the way for...
EPA Regulations on Forever Chemicals Are Coming, But States Have Already Acted
The EPA is expected to announce reporting requirements regarding PFAS, commonly referred to as “forever chemicals.” While manufacturers and suppliers are eagerly awaiting those requirements, they may need to look a little closer to home for PFAS rules, as many states already have laws in place. Assent’s Cally Edgren breaks down the state-level rules. This...
The VC World’s Ethical Dilemma: Grow in Value or Grow in Virtue?
The fast-paced startup world, fueled by venture capital, isn’t for the faint of heart. In just a few short years, innovation can propel a tiny company to a successful IPO. But, as LRN’s Ty Francis explores, startups that overlook the importance of building a culture of ethics do so at their own risk. Historically, many...
Survey: ESG Efforts Taking a Back Seat to Rising Supply Chain Costs
Almost all businesses have seen supply chain disruptions over the past year, and new research finds that as a result, many are pulling back on ESG-related initiatives like labor standards and supply chain sustainability. The research from cloud management provider Ivalua and Sapio Research shows that 90% of businesses have seen their supply chains disrupted...
Everything You Need to Know About the SEC’s New Cybersecurity Rules
Following the release of much-anticipated cybersecurity reporting guidelines for public companies, questions may persist about specifics of the new rules. Attorney David M. Lynn of Morrison & Foerster dives into all the details. In July, the SEC adopted long-awaited amendments to its rules to require disclosure about cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance and incident reporting...