Compliance

Setting the tone at the top for any new compliance program can be a daunting and challenging issue – even more so when you are a woman looking to implement a “Western”-inspired compliance program in a Middle Eastern organization managed by men who don’t necessarily see the value in it. Nothing a little elegant truth-telling and diplomatic convincing can’t resolve....

Steve Durbin, Managing Director of the Information Security Forum (ISF), discusses some of the key risks to organizations today and provides guidance on how to steer clear of them while becoming more resilient. Until recently, leading executives at organizations around the world received information and reports encouraging them to consider information and cybersecurity risk. Yet not all of them understood...

Fenergo’s Kevin O’Neill discusses how asset management firms and other financial institutions are being scrutinized more by regulatory bodies with respect to AML/KYC compliance and what can be done to rectify the problem. A recent report found that regulators over the past 10 years have issued over $26 billion in AML/KYC and sanctions-related fines (and rising). This staggering number shows...

Regulating web use for employees via compliance handbook and URL filters for blacklisted (bad) and whitelisted (good) online resources has failed to improve compliance. Authenic8’s John Klassen discusses how firms can ensure compliance without sacrificing productivity or risking an internal backlash. Pressure from the SEC and state authorities has increased over the past two years to remediate areas of cybersecurity...

What a difference a year makes — The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) announced two sanctions settlements in the beginning of 2019, a stark difference from 2018 when OFAC announced its first enforcement action in June 2018. Michael Volkov provides specifics on sanctions violations from Kollmorgen and the cosmetics company ELF. ELF Cosmetics On January 31, 2019,...

Knowing how to engage in competitor interactions is often more art than science. There are few clear lines of conduct to guide information exchanges made for legitimate business reasons. But broad principles do exist to help you consider your options carefully. Vedder Price’s Brian McCalmon discusses. Throughout the country, sales managers, supervisors and executives attend antitrust trainings with varying degrees of...

Artificial intelligence could contribute multiple trillions to the global economy in the coming decade, but even while poor data quality becomes increasingly detrimental to businesses’ bottom line, AI is not yet being widely incorporated. Heidi Maher of CGOC discusses the widespread need for AI and machine learning. According to a recent study by PWC, artificial intelligence (AI) could contribute up...

The SEC is considering a rule change that would effectively introduce a floor and a ceiling for whistleblower awards. As Phillips & Cohen Partner Sean McKessy explains, they seem to be instating a solution to a nonexistent problem. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has long hailed its whistleblower program as a success, with the former SEC chair, Mary Jo...

VinciWorks’ Sandra Erez envisions corporate whistleblowing hotlines as an outgrowth of the infamous "red phone" from the era of the Cuban missile crisis and discusses how whistleblowing methods have evolved over the years. Read Part 1 here. It is October 1962, and the winds of war have unearthed Soviet missiles planted in the unyielding Cuban soil. With their snub noses...

This is the time of year most of us seek to transform our circumstances by adopting better habits. Valerie Charles, Chief Strategy Officer at GAN Integrity, analyzes key ethical and regulatory issues from last year and details three practices companies can implement to improve their compliance programs going forward. The new year is a time to break bad habits and...

Transparency International recently released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, and Brazil has fallen in the rankings. On its face, this seems like bad news, but Patricia Punder has a different take on the matter. Last week, Transparency International published its 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index, encompassing 180 countries around the world. Brazil again fell in the rankings, but this should not...

Just starting out in law school, Milou Lammers knew almost immediately that she wanted to pursue a career in corporate compliance, but she didn’t know how to strategically position herself for that field. And a good many of the GRC professionals she turned to didn’t know what advice to give her, having themselves just more or less stumbled into compliance....