FSA proposes to ban the promotion of UCIS and similar products to ordinary retail investors 22 Aug 2012 The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published proposals to ban the promotion of Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes (UCIS) and similar products to the vast majority of retail investors in the UK. The proposed rules mean that, in […]

Banks behave badly redux: Is it killing confidence? It wasn’t supposed to be like this. After the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression almost took the global economy over a cliff, tough new regulations and stronger internal controls at the world’s major banks were meant to help restore confidence in the financial system. But […]

SFO – NEW TOUGH TONE FROM THE TOP ON ACTS OF BRIBERY – the Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) has announced it is opening an investigation into alleged incidents of bribery that were thought to have been dealt with in March this year. The Director of the SFO, via a statement on the SFO website, stated […]

Deloitte caught in Standard Chartered scandal – The US arm of Deloitte has been implicated in a scandal involving Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), which is facing allegations that it schemed with Iran to launder billions of dollars. The bank is accused of devising a method of masking Iranian client transactions to bypass US money laundering […]

The Bribery Act’s first year – The Bribery Act came into force just over a year ago, amid much fanfare and media speculation. Some said it went too far and would stifle business, others said it did not go far enough. But what effect has it really had so far? In the attached CMK examine […]

April 2012 Citi sanctioned for AML and being ‘deficient’ on money laundering rules – on the 6th April 2012 Citigroup has been accused of failing to comply with rules intended to stop money laundering and the financing of international terrorism. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees large US banks, said that […]

US regulator claims Standard Chartered laundered Iranian money – Standard Chartered Bank has lost a quarter of its value and has been threatened with losing its licence to practice in the US after the New York financial regulator accused it of laundering Iranian funds illegally. According to the New York State Department of Financial Services […]

Lawyers fined after banking £1.43m for mystery clients offshore – with no questions asked – LAWYERS in a High Street firm have been fined for flouting rules meant to stop money laundering. But George Morton and Malcolm Thomson escaped with their jobs. Legal watchdogs found that Morton, 58, “completely ignored” procedures put in place to […]