Fresh warning over adviser reliance on risk tools – Research company report on Skandia range cautions against sole use of provider tools one year after FSA paper highlights issue. Research agency Rayner Spencer Mills this morning (16 April) issued a report that warns advisers against an over reliance on risk profiling tools in order to […]

Fifteen tips for embedding a CPD culture at your firm – While advisers may be getting qualifications and gap-fill out of the way now, they will soon have to focus on continuing professional development (CPD). From next year, firms will have to make sure their advisers meet the retail distribution review (RDR) requirement to complete […]

Sanctions Against Iran: The Reputational Risk For Law-Abiding And Well-Meaning Companies – Organisations with links to Iran are adept at circumventing traditional financial controls, using opaque and multi-layered structures to conceal ownership, control and associations. Sanction-busting transactions involve not only third, but fourth and fifth parties to circumvent standard sanctions controls. Legitimate businesses are frequently […]

FSA to target anti-bribery and corruption failures – On March 29, the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) published its findings following a thematic review of anti-bribery and corruption systems and controls in investment banks. The FSA reported that, despite long-standing regulatory requirements to mitigate financial crime risk, the majority of firms in its sample did […]

USEFUL SITES AND RESOURCES FOR ONLINE INVESTIGATORS AND RESEARCHERS http://www.world-newspapers.com – World Newspapers, Magazines and News Sites (in English) http://Anzwers.com.au – one of Australia’s longest running search engines, was launched in 1996 http://www.boolify.org – site that allows students to visualize & interact with the abstract concepts behind the search process http://www.blogs.mod.uk/onlinesecurity – compilation of very […]

PRIVACY IMPACT ASSESSMENT: HOW TO RESPECT PRIVACY IN A SOCIAL MEDIA INVESTIGATION – by Ben Wright – Privacy on the Ascendancy Social networks like Facebook hold so much information about our thoughts, our behavior, our relationships that official investigations naturally seek to uncover it. But as technology collects more data, powerful voices are championing greater […]

ONLINE INTELLIGENCE: THE USUAL SUSPECTS VERSUS EVOLVING E-RESEARCH PRACTICES – by Martin Hurst – It’s a basic principle: The more society integrates the Internet into their daily lives, the more society leaves behind an increasing array of digital footprints. These digital footprints identify behaviour, habits, and personal preferences and the more one integrates with the […]

Are you liable to customers for taking its time to verify the source of funds – In the recent related English cases of Shah v HSBC (UK) Ltd [2009] EWHC 79; Shah v HSBC (UK) Ltd [2010] EWHC Civ 31; Shah v HSBC (UK) Ltd [2011] EWHC 1713; Shah v HSBC (UK) Ltd [2011] EWCA […]