Article: Deutsche Bank Revamps Controls as New Lapses Threaten Turnaround

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Deutsche Bank Revamps Controls as New Lapses Threaten Turnaround

Steven Arons, 15 June 2021

Deutsche Bank AG revamped the units seeking to detect and prevent financial crimes after a number of recent compliance issues risk undermining progress in Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing’s turnaround plan.

Chief Administrative Officer Stefan Simon, in a memo to employees Tuesday, announced a reorganization of his business into six units, with the aim of reshaping the bank’s anti financial crime efforts. As part of the changes, Mary Kirwan, a former Credit Suisse Group AG executive, and Jan-Gerrit Iken from Commerzbank AG will join. Continue reading “Article: Deutsche Bank Revamps Controls as New Lapses Threaten Turnaround”

Article: Wildlife trafficking: a new frontier for organised financial crime

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Wildlife trafficking: a new frontier for organised financial crime

JOHN BASQUILL, 15 June 2021

Pressure is growing on financial institutions to toughen their approach to environmental crime, with G7 leaders vowing to crack down on the illicit fund flows supporting wildlife trafficking and campaign groups warning that the activity has morphed from a conservation issue to a financial crime concern.

In a communique issued ahead of June’s annual G7 summit, the finance ministers and central bank governors of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US jointly sounded the alarm that greater attention is being paid to wildlife trafficking. Continue reading “Article: Wildlife trafficking: a new frontier for organised financial crime”

Article: ECU Group Accuses HSBC of Fraud and Misconduct Made on Its FX Trading Desk

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ECU Group Accuses HSBC of Fraud and Misconduct Made on Its FX Trading Desk

Felipe Erazo, 15 June 2021

A currency manager, ECU Group has accused the multinational investment bank, HSBC of fraud and misconduct within its foreign exchange (forex) trading desk between 2004 and 2006. According to a report published by the Financial Times, quoting a hearing at the UK High Court on Monday, an alleged ‘rotten culture’ between such a period allowed bankers to misuse confidential data.

In fact, the ECU Group claims that HSBC is responsible for having committed fraud related to 52 forex trades it placed with the bank in those years. The allegations were made in the context of a trial that expects to last for at least seven weeks. The banking giant denied all the claims made by the currency manager, the FT said. Continue reading “Article: ECU Group Accuses HSBC of Fraud and Misconduct Made on Its FX Trading Desk”

Article: Is Texas headed toward another blackout? Did the Legislature fix the power grid? Here are answers to your questions about the grid.

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Is Texas headed toward another blackout? Did the Legislature fix the power grid? Here are answers to your questions about the grid.

ERIN DOUGLAS AND MITCHELL FERMAN, 15 June 2021

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas on Monday asked residents to reduce their electricity usage through at least Friday due to “tight” power grid conditions. A number of power plants are inexplicably offline at the same time as the state is experiencing record June demand for electricity. Continue reading “Article: Is Texas headed toward another blackout? Did the Legislature fix the power grid? Here are answers to your questions about the grid.”

Article: True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report Reveals that Costs Reached $213.9 Billion in 2021

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True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report Reveals that Costs Reached $213.9 Billion in 2021

Omar Faridi, 15 June 2021

LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a global data and analytics firm, has published its annual True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report.

The results shared in the new report have been prepared after conducting an extensive survey of 1,015 financial crime compliance decision-makers at established financial institutions such as banks, investment companies, funds managers, and insurers. Continue reading “Article: True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report Reveals that Costs Reached $213.9 Billion in 2021”

Article: Reserve Bank names companies abusing foreign exchange auction system

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Reserve Bank names companies abusing foreign exchange auction system

Bongani Ndlovu, 15 June 2021

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has named 18 companies that have been abusing the foreign exchange auction system.

The RBZ released a statement and said the companies that were found out by the Financial Intelligence unit will be fined.

The companies include National Foods (Pvt) Ltd, Georgia Petroleum (Pvt) Ltd, Tettola Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Africa Steel (Pvt) Ltd, Westville Investments (Pvt) Ltd (T/A Omni Africa), Flicknik Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd, Duo Valley Commodity Brokers, Faircclot Investments, GlenuLas Trading, Natural Stone Export Company, Nuvert Trading, Phirebrook Investments, Classic Energy, Clorex Energy, Explochem, Mutare Mart & Exchange, Souzcre Fuels and Kimya Investments. Continue reading “Article: Reserve Bank names companies abusing foreign exchange auction system”

Article: Hindenburg Research Shorts One of the Biggest SPAC Winners: DraftKings

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Hindenburg Research Shorts One of the Biggest SPAC Winners: DraftKings

Michelle Celarier, 15 June 2021

Nate Anderson’s Hindenburg Research, the short activist firm that burst onto the scene last fall with an exposé of electric truck maker Nikola, is back with its fifth big takedown of a special-purpose acquisition company.

This time Anderson has set his sights on DraftKings, the online gambling site which went public in one of the hottest SPAC deals of 2020. His firm alleges that DraftKings has “extensive dealings in black-market gaming, money laundering, and organized crime.” Continue reading “Article: Hindenburg Research Shorts One of the Biggest SPAC Winners: DraftKings”

Article: EU freezes bond sales of 10 banks for violating antitrust laws

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EU freezes bond sales of 10 banks for violating antitrust laws

Agnes Zang, 15 June 2021

As part of its 800 billion euro recovery fund, the European Union has excluded the 10 most hit banks in the debt market from lucrative bond sales because they have historically violated antitrust rules.

Brussels’ The biggest lending frenzy ever Beginning on Tuesday, a new 10-year bond will be sold to fund the NextGenerationEU program under a so-called syndicate and pay a group of banks to attract investor demand. Continue reading “Article: EU freezes bond sales of 10 banks for violating antitrust laws”

Article: Forex Whistleblower Trevor Kitchen Wins Appeal of Extradition Case

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Forex Whistleblower Trevor Kitchen Wins Appeal of Extradition Case

Geoff Schweller, 15 June 2021

A Portuguese Court of Appeals ruled against a request from Switzerland for the extradition of whistleblower Trevor Kitchen, a British citizen currently residing on the Mediterranean island of Madeira. The decision goes against the wishes of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which sought Kitchen’s extradition to Switzerland to face charges of defamation. Kitchen believes the extradition request was retaliation from Swiss authorities for his whistleblowing on currency manipulation. Continue reading “Article: Forex Whistleblower Trevor Kitchen Wins Appeal of Extradition Case”

Article: AWS Head of Payments: Fraud, Credit Decisioning Drive Move To The Cloud

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AWS Head of Payments: Fraud, Credit Decisioning Drive Move To The Cloud

PYMNTS, 15 June 2021

In an interview with PYMNTS, Mark Smith, head of payments for financial services at Amazon Web Services (AWS), said that “COVID has changed the conversation we’ve been having with payment customers, and it’s accelerated the trends we’ve been seeing over the past few years.”

Much of that changing conversation has to do with a pivot in consumer behavior, he said, which has spurred AWS’ own customers to migrate to cloud applications. “We all recognize that payments transactions are ‘bursty,’” Smith told PYMNTS. “We see a lot of this during the holidays and with seasonal shifts. But we weren’t ready for this kind of panic-buying, all done online.” One reason is to enhance card processing, as firms on the merchant processing side — which are focused on eCommerce — need to scale up and down as necessary based on those aforementioned shifts in consumer behavior, and as more transactions move online. Continue reading “Article: AWS Head of Payments: Fraud, Credit Decisioning Drive Move To The Cloud”

Article: The Big Difference Between a Digital Dollar and a CBDC

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The Big Difference Between a Digital Dollar and a CBDC

Joe Weisenthal, 15 June 2021

Outside of perhaps China, right now the big use case for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) seems to be just talking about them. Crypto is cool right now and people are interested in digital money, so government and central bank officials are also spending a lot of time talking about their visions of how fiat currencies could be brought into this new realm.

However, there’s still a lot of ambiguity about how, say, a digital dollar would be designed, or what exactly it would accomplish. We’re still at the talking stage. Continue reading “Article: The Big Difference Between a Digital Dollar and a CBDC”

Article: NAB working with Accenture on massive compliance fix

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NAB working with Accenture on massive compliance fix

Consultancy.com.au, 15 June 2021

Consulting giant Accenture is reportedly working with the NAB on a “mammoth” project to fix the long-standing compliance issues which have recently led to increased regulatory scrutiny.

The National Australia Bank has brought in professional services giant Accenture on a secret project to combat shortfalls in its financial crimes compliance and identification of high-risk customers, according to a report from the Sydney Morning Herald. Dubbed ‘Project Apollo’, the engagement is described as ‘mammoth’ by the paper, with Accenture said to have hired additional staff to work specifically on the project. Continue reading “Article: NAB working with Accenture on massive compliance fix”

Article: U.S. Futures Gain, Bond Rally Pauses as Fed Eyed: Markets Wrap

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U.S. Futures Gain, Bond Rally Pauses as Fed Eyed: Markets Wrap

Cecile Gutscher and Joanna Ossinger, 14 June 2021

U.S. equity futures and stocks posted modest gains Monday as investors prepared for a key Federal Reserve meeting later in the week. The rally in bond markets lost steam.

S&P 500 futures signaled the gauge was poised to add to Friday’s fresh record. An advance in European equities was led by shares in energy firms. The Treasury 10-year yield rose to 1.46% after hitting three-month lows on Thursday amid the biggest weekly slide since December. French and German government bond peers also reversed course with yields turning higher. Continue reading “Article: U.S. Futures Gain, Bond Rally Pauses as Fed Eyed: Markets Wrap”

Article: HSBC’s ‘Rotten’ Traders Accused of Gaining From Secret Info

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HSBC’s ‘Rotten’ Traders Accused of Gaining From Secret Info

Jonathan Browning, 14 June 2021

HSBC Holdings Plc faced accusations from an ex-client that its “rotten” traders used confidential information to make a profit, at the start of a London trial examining allegations of front running at the bank’s foreign exchange desk over 15 years ago.

The bank’s currency team deliberately traded ahead of client orders during a period far earlier than HSBC has previously admitted to, currency investment firm ECU Group Plc said. HSBC dismissed the claims as “incredibly stale.” Continue reading “Article: HSBC’s ‘Rotten’ Traders Accused of Gaining From Secret Info”

Article: Adani Stocks Cut Loss After Denying Freeze on Investor Accounts

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Adani Stocks Cut Loss After Denying Freeze on Investor Accounts

Nupur Acharya and P R Sanjai, 14 June 2021

Shares of companies controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani recouped a part their day’s losses after refuting a local report that said accounts of three Mauritius-based funds that own the group’s stocks were frozen.

The Economic Times reported Monday that National Securities Depository Ltd. froze the accounts of Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund. It said the action was probably due to insufficient disclosure of information regarding beneficial ownership, citing people it didn’t identify. The report sparked a selloff in shares of six listed Adani firms before the ports-to-power conglomerate rebutted the claims. Continue reading “Article: Adani Stocks Cut Loss After Denying Freeze on Investor Accounts”

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