Cybersecurity is the number one 2023 risk for global banks, but geopolitical risk tops European banks’ concerns. So say chief risk officers at global banks, according to a recent survey conducted by Ernst & Young (EY) and written by three senior EY executives. And for the next five years? “Global banking chief risk officers (CROs)… Read More >>
‘Ghost Cattle’ Scam Creates AML Woes for FCM
CHS Hedging, a registered futures commission merchant based in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., is paying a penalty of $6.5 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to settle charges that it had inadequate anti-money laundering (AML), risk management, recordkeeping, and supervisory controls over a trading account of a cattle rancher running a $244 million “Ghost… Read More >>
Reporter’s Notebook: Is SBF a Gen X Madoff?
Is Sam Bankman-Fried (a.k.a. SBF) the Gen X Bernie Madoff? Or maybe he’s the Hairball-Grinch who stole Christmas? Of course, we won’t know for sure that he’s allegedly a con artist and a crook of epic proportions until he’s had his day in court. Maybe he’s just a kid who believed his own hype and… Read More >>
Hearsay Updates System as SEC Readies New Rules
Financial services firms have about six weeks to comply with a new SEC rule that regards testimonials as advertisements, and many perceive the changes they will need to make as daunting. Hearsay Systems, a social media compliance, and digital client engagement provider, reports that it has updated its compliance capabilities to help firms come up… Read More >>
Guilty Plea Reached in Crypto-Based Ponzi Scheme
Maybe someday putting your hard-earned bucks into cryptocurrencies will be as safe as putting them into a bank. That day has not yet arrived. Last week, though, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler indicated that he was in favor of Congress “handing more authority to the SEC’s sister markets regulator to oversee certain… Read More >>
Crypto’s Winter Eases Some Related Crime Levels: Report
Cryptocurrency markets have been having a tough time. Bitcoin, the best known coin in the crypto piggy bank, traded at an all-time high of over $65,000 per coin November 2021, according to data compiled by Statista. But that was then. Earlier this month, Celsius Network, a crypto “bank,” filed for bankruptcy after its customers lost an… Read More >>
Cooperation Helps Firms Beat Financial Crime: Report
Sometimes financial crime is as local as your neighborhood shyster promising crypto riches to gullible kids or unsophisticated old folks. That can be a tragedy for the people who are conned. Other times, though, financial crime is international, requiring cooperation between nation-states or between private financial organizations and public agencies. And international financial crime can… Read More >>
JPMS, UBS & TradeStation Resolve Identity Theft Program Woes
JPMorgan Securities (JPMS), UBS Financial Services, and TradeStation Securities have settled charges made by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that they failed to keep pace with the ever-changing and growing threat of identity theft. The SEC is alleging that the trio had deficient efforts to prevent customer identity theft and thus violated the “Identity… Read More >>
SocGen Joins Broadridge’s Repo Platform & Other News
Société Générale Supports Repos via DLT French banking giant Société Générale reports that it is now “live on the distributed ledger technology repo platform” created by vendor Broadridge Financial Solutions. The platform “accelerates the digitization of the global repo market, empowering participants to realize immediate benefits of reduced risk and operational costs and enhanced… Read More >>
Allianz Unit Pays Billions in Fines via Fraud Case
Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC (AGI US) has admitted its guilt in what the SEC is calling “a massive fraudulent scheme” that hid the major risks of a complicated options trading strategy that the firm called “Structured Alpha.” The alleged scheme did not save the Structured Alpha funds, which collapsed and caused investors to lose… Read More >>
