The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a proposed framework for the international regulation of crypto-asset activities. Elements of the FSB’s proposed framework include “recommendations that promote the consistency and comprehensiveness of regulatory, supervisory and oversight approaches to crypto-asset activities and markets and strengthen international cooperation, coordination and information sharing; and revised high-level recommendations for… Read More >>
Barclays Pays $361M to Settle Unregistered Securities Case
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged that Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC offered and sold “an unprecedented amount” of unregistered securities because of a “failure to implement any internal control to track such transactions in real time.” One result of that alleged failure is that both Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC had… Read More >>
Kim Kardashian Faces Harsh Crypto Realities
A reality star is facing the harsh truths of the world of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, and the consequences of a busy regulator who is closely watching celebrities endorsing a garden variety of cryptocurrencies, tokens, and other digital assets as securities. The SEC has just settled with reality star Kim Kardashian “for touting on social… Read More >>
Deloitte-China & SEC Settle Auditing Woes Case for $20M
Who audits the auditors? The clients being audited? That doesn’t seem quite right, does it? In any case, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Certified Public Accountants LLP, better known as Deloitte-China, the Chinese affiliate of Deloitte’s network of accounting firms, with “failing to comply with fundamental U.S…. Read More >>
Wall Street Slammed for Not Tracking Off-Channel Communication
The SEC and the CFTC have taken on major Wall Street firms and penalized them for alleged “widespread recordkeeping failures” and have gotten the firms to acknowledge their shortcomings and to pay penalties in the millions. The SEC alone has racked up $1.1 billion in penalties from 16 firms and the CFTC has settled charges… Read More >>
Data Disposal Case Spurs $35M Penalty for MSSB
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports settling charges against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) “stemming from the firm’s extensive failures, over a five-year period, to protect the personal identifying information, or PII, of approximately 15 million customers.” MSSB neither admits nor denies the charges. However, it has agreed to pay a $35 million… Read More >>
Nasdaq Launches a Digital Assets Business & Other News
Nasdaq Establishes a Custody Solution for Digital Assets Nasdaq reports the launch of a new business that it says will “power the digital asset ecosystem.” The new business “underpins Nasdaq’s ambition to advance and help facilitate broader institutional participation in digital assets by providing trusted and institutional-grade solutions, focused on enhanced custody, liquidity and integrity,”… Read More >>
BofA Securities Fined $5M via OTC Reporting Case
“Oops, I did it again” might work as an excuse once, maybe even twice, especially if accompanied by a twinkly smile. But 7.4 million times? It’s not that innocent, as Britney might say. Let’s all sing along with the verse: FINRA, the self-regulating authority for U.S. broker-dealers, which is overseen by the Securities and Exchange… 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 >>
Fines Drop 25% in First Half of 2022: Report
You don’t think it’s good news, do you? A study reports that, at mid-year, global enforcement penalties against financial institutions (and their employees) for not complying with anti-money laundering (AML), environmental, social and governance (ESG) and data-privacy regulations have fallen by a whopping 25 percent, compared to the same period last year. They’re down this… Read More >>
