Compliance Monitor

With the 'failure to prevent fraud' offence now in force, an additional burden rests on compliance functions to ensure that firms have reasonable procedures in place to counter relevant risks. Charlotte Hill outlines the scope of the new offence, lessons from parallel legislation and practical steps to implement.

A coordinating European agency is to tighten supervision and raise standards for anti-money laundering compliance across member states. Ted Datta explores the substantial implications for many UK-based financial institutions.

The regulator has published feedback on its multi-firm reviews into share buybacks, gifts and entertainment, off-channel communications, transaction governance, along with client asset arrangements. Denis O'Connor discusses discrepancies and lessons from the findings.

The FCA has joined with three other regulators "to tackle misleading advertising and inadequate information" from law firms and claims managers specialising in motor finance agreements.

The FCA's proposed redress scheme for motor finance agreements would cost an average per contract of £700 in compensation and an extra £233 to administer.

Europe's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is not merely another regulatory burden; by elevating sustainability to the top levels of corporate governance, compliance can be integrated in ways that offer strategic value. Analysing reports of many of the region's largest companies, Mario Wernly and Johanna Tensi discuss what distinguishes the best reporters as well as the operational and business benefits.

The regulator has published proposals for 'Direct to Fund', an alternative means of dealing in authorised funds, through blockchain DLT (distributed ledger technology) which could be cheaper than traditional ways of running funds and offering them to the retail sector.

BlueCrest Capital Management have agreed a US$101 million redress arrangement with the Financial Conduct Authority and a public censure after a four-year dispute with the regulator which, in 2021, held it responsible for conflict of interest failings in the way it managed a retail fund.