The United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made available a final notice (28 March 2013), which hands down the FCA's first penalty by fining EFG Private Bank Ltd (EFG) £4.2 million for a series of failures relating to its anti-money laundering controls for high risk customers. The FCA said EFG's failures were "serious, systemic and continued for more than three years".

The United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it has settled with Beef Products Inc (BPI) in relation to alleged Clean Air Act breaches at an Iowa facility. According to EPA, the facility released "anhydrous ammonia into a production area occupied by BPI workers" in 2007, which resulted in the "permanent disability of one worker and the death of [another]".

The United States (US) Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (the Committee) has made available the witness testimony given at its hearing Outsourcing Accountability? Examining the Role of Independent Consultants on 11 April 2013.

One SAI Global customer has documented a 70% reduction in the time required to manage policies and procedures by using our Compliance 360® GRC Software Suite. Another has consolidated their policies and reduced the total by more than 50%. Still another has greatly streamlined policy assessments, improving focus on their greatest risks.

The United States (US) Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an Order (19 February 2013) requiring London-based Enskilda Futures Ltd (EFL) to settle breaches of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) by paying a civil penalty of US$125,000, and to "maintain the remedial measures adopted following discovery of the error". According to the Order, by collecting net rather than gross margin collateral on an intra-month basis from parent company Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), EFL "incurred charges to its adjusted net capital" which prevented the company from meeting minimum capital requirements under the CEA.

The United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced that it has fined UBS a total of £29.7 million in relation to systems and controls failings that allowed UBS employee Kweku Adoboli "to cause substantial losses totalling US$2.3 billion as a result of unauthorised trading". According to the FSA, "UBS failed to take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems and failed to conduct its business ... with due skill, care and diligence".

In-house compliance experts from some of the world's leading companies, French and EU government spokespersons and key advisors gathered in Paris October 23-24 to share experiences and best practices for minimising third party risk:  an area where regulators around the globe are tightening their grip.

It has long been claimed that an open corporate culture reduces compliance risk. This is based on the intuitive notion that if employees feel free to bring ethics and compliance concerns to management without fear of recrimination or retaliation, they are more likely to do so.  This willingness to discuss and report wrongdoing, in turn, should reduce the likelihood that potential bad actors will actually engage in harmful behaviors.

Read this whitepaper to gain insights into:

• Hazard Identification and Registers
• Assessing Hazard Risks
• Hazard Mitigation and Controls
• Hazard Monitoring and Review

An effective Enterprise Risk Management program can take thousands of hours to develop and require significant effort to devise an overall strategic plan, set up organizational structures and identify and define risks and effective controls. Additionally, successful management of enterprise risks requires close coordination and integration among Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) functions including regulatory compliance, internal audit, incident management, and others.

SAI Global has teamed with ErmsCo to integrate the ErmsCo ERM Foundation - a comprehensive library of enterprise risk management content - with the Compliance 360 system. The ERM Foundation provides a proven inventory of risk definitions and functional risk controls that enable a financial institutions manage risks in a proactive and strategic manner. The ERM Foundation includes more than 500 pre-defined risks and 1,500 pre-defined risk controls.