CCI staff share recent surveys, reports and analysis on risk, compliance, governance, infosec and leadership issues. Share details of your survey with us: editor@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
Dollar value of competition-related penalties sinks by 97%
As the Trump Administration’s deregulatory agenda takes shape, financial services firms are feeling — or, rather, not feeling — the impact. A new analysis by Wolters Kluwer indicates that regulatory enforcement actions against finserv firms fell by 37% in the first half of 2025.
The company’s regulatory violations index, issued semi-annually, charts regulatory trends affecting US commercial banks, insurers, broker-dealers and other finserv firms, and the latest update reveals a seismic-but-perhaps-unsurprising shift in the federal landscape. Monetary penalties have fallen 32% across the categories tracked by the index, with competition-related penalties, including antitrust violations, experiencing the biggest drop, a 97% decline in dollar value during the first half of 2025.
“We’re witnessing a fundamental transformation in federal enforcement priorities,” Chuck Ross, VP and segment leader of investment compliance solutions and compliance program management at Wolters Kluwer, said in a news release. “While deregulation was anticipated under the new administration, the velocity and magnitude of this enforcement pullback exceeds even the most aggressive predictions.”
Other key findings:
- Competition-related offenses: Enforcement actions cut in half (50% decline); penalty values virtually eliminated (97% decline)
- Consumer protection violations: Enforcement volume down 22%; monetary penalties reduced by 21%
- Financial offenses: Violation volume dropped 53%; penalty amounts decreased 24%
Cybersecurity, AI & supply chains rise on directors’ agendas
The agendas of board directors at public companies continues to expand, with emerging issues like cybersecurity, AI and supply chains increasingly taking up board members’ time, according to a new report from the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
NACD’s survey of about 200 members found that more than three-quarters of directors (77%) are discussing the material and financial implications of cybersecurity incidents, an increase of 25 percentage points from just three years ago, while AI has become a routine topic for 60% of boards, double the rate from 2023.
Similarly, supply chains have risen to become a top-five concern for board directors, up from No. 13 a year ago, NACD reported.
30% of employees have witnessed workplace violence in the past 5 years
Thirty percent of employees reported witnessing workplace violence in the past five years, up from 25% in 2024, while 15% reported being directly targeted by such incidents compared to 12% the previous year, according to Traliant’s annual workplace safety survey. High-risk industries face disproportionate exposure, with 46% of hospitality employees witnessing violence compared to the overall average.
Workplace violence prevention training has increased slightly to 75% of employees since 2024, but significant gaps remain in preparedness, particularly among younger workers, the survey found. Gen Z employees report the lowest confidence in de-escalation skills at 41%, compared to Baby Boomers at 58%.
Other findings:
- Only 60% of employees would feel comfortable reporting safety threats without guaranteed anonymity.
- 89% believe employers need to do more to address workplace safety.
- 93% support mandatory workplace violence prevention legislation beyond California and New York.
The survey of 1,009 US employees at companies with over 100 staff members was conducted by Traliant, a compliance training provider.
Financial firms spend 308 hours annually on mobile communications compliance
Financial services compliance teams spend an average of 308 hours annually managing mobile communications surveillance — approximately six hours per week — according to a survey by MirrorWeb, a communications archiving provider. For 16% of firms, this commitment exceeds 500 hours annually, equivalent to more than one full working day per week.
The survey found that 65% of firms allow employees to use personal devices for business communication, creating oversight challenges. Only 29% have monitoring tools in place for such usage, while 14% permit personal device usage without any compliance oversight and 6% admit to having no formal archiving solution at all.
Despite resource-intensive surveillance processes, 59% of senior leaders believe their current mobile communications compliance approach improves productivity, while 23% report it disrupts operations. The disconnect suggests varying perspectives on compliance effectiveness across organizational levels.
The survey of 200 senior compliance decision-makers was conducted by MirrorWeb, which provides AI-driven compliance monitoring solutions for financial services firms.
