1. WHAT IS FATCA? – The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, signed into US law in March 2010, includes provisions generally known as FATCA. – These provisions are intended to obtain information on assets held by US persons outside the US. i. To that end, FATCA requires financial institutions (which include UK funds) outside […]

The FCA has fined Invesco Asset Management Limited and Invesco Fund Managers Limited (IFML) (together known as Invesco) £18,643,000 (including a 30 per cent discount) for failing to keep within investment limits, introducing leverage into certain funds without providing investors with proper disclosure about the risks involved and failing to put adequate controls in place […]

  In November 2012 the FSA published a paper ‘Conflicts of Interest between asset managers and their customers’. This can be found at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/other/conflicts-of-interest.pdf Whilst this is geared towards investment managers and stockbrokers, it is actually a useful paper to read by the Financial Planner, helping to identify what questions they should ask a discretionary […]

Former Attorney Pleads Guilty to $7 Million Ponzi Scheme 14 Nov 2012 Billy Frank Davis, aka Bill F. Davis, a former attorney residing in Houston, has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with his investment fraud scheme that victimized more than 20 investors of approximately $7.8 million, United States Attorney Ken […]

French prosecutors have launched an investigation into possible money laundering by HSBC private banking clients after buying data stolen by a former employee of the bank. Eric de Montgolfier, the prosecutor from Nice in the south of France, revealed yesterday that his team are looking into thousands of accounts for evidence of money laundering, having […]

In October/November 2008, the International Monetary Fund (the “IMF”) visited Jersey to carry out an assessment of Jersey’s regulatory and anti-money laundering regimes as part of the Financial Sector Assessment Programme. In response to this IMF review and their report the Jersey’s authorities have now responded. These responses may be found in 4 seperate reports, […]

In a follow-up to a story dated 26 January 2010, Indian businessman Raj Arjandas Bhojwani has been found guilty of “greed and corruption on a massive scale” in Jersey’s Royal Court. For five weeks, in one of Jersey’s largest ever money laundering cases, the Royal Court heard how Bhojwani laundered US$43.9 million [about £29.1 million] […]

Obviously, the world’s second oldest profession–bribing or extorting for money and power–is deeply entrenched and will require different strategies appropriate to different contexts. But, without a global public leader, the U.S. Secretary of State, or the head of the World Bank, to give the issue dramatic voice and make it a broader movement, the all […]