We have selected some of the GRC News highlights from the past month and summarized them into this blog post. Subscribe to keep up to date on more GRC news updates.
Health Care Executives indicted for insider-trading (May 24th)
Washington consultant David Blaszczak has been charged with insider-trading.He is accused of using confidential government information on policy changes to trade shares in the health care companies that would be affected by the changes. Blaszczak allegedly passed the information onto associates at the Hedge Fund Deerfield. The SEC has alleged that the information led to $3.9 million in illegal profits. Four others have been indicted in the case. (source)
Fiduciary rule set to go into effect despite delays (May 23rd)
Despite delays and setbacks, the new fiduciary rule is set to go into effect on June 9th. The fiduciary rule, created under the Obama administration was delayed from its scheduled April release after president Trump signed an executive order to review it. There as of yet, has been no changes made to the rule, and it is still unclear if the Trump administration will make changes, however it is expected that the heart of the rule will remain the same. (source)
Daimler offices raided in Germany (May 23rd)
German police raided 11 offices of Mercedes-Benz car maker Daimler. The raids are related to the possible manipulation of diesel exhaust emissions from its cars. It has allegedly set aside €22bn euros for fines and compensation. (source)
Facebook hit with €110m fine (May 18th)
The European Commission has fined Facebook €110m for the way it handled its acquisition and merger with WhatsApp. Facebook had previously said in 2014 that it could not match WhatsApp users accounts with their Facebook accounts. However the commission alleged that, 'the technical possibility of automatically matching Facebook and WhatsApp users' identities already existed in 2014, and that Facebook staff were aware of such a possibility'. (source)
Barclays fined $97m by SEC (May 10th)
Barclays agreed to settle three sets of violations by the SEC for $97m. The enforcement was the result of Barclays overcharging clients, allegedly to the tune of $50m. Barclays, has since agreed to set up a fund to refund the affected clients. (source)
Former MoneyGram CCO settles money laundering case (May 4th)
Thomas Haider, the former Chief Compliance Officer of MoneyGram agreed to pay a $250,000 settlement for his failure to implement an effective AML program to detect and stop fraudulent transfers. In what has been a closely watched case for all compliance officers, Haider was held personally responsible for the (lack of) compliance of MoneyGram, an act the enforcers (FinCen) seen as strengthening the compliance profession. (source)
EU plans to ease derivatives rule (May 4th)
In a bid to boost the economy, the EU has proposed easing derivatives rules surrounding pension funds, which could save billions of euros and boost growth in the bloc. (source)
Jay Clayton Sworn in as Chairman of SEC (May 4th)
Jay Clayton was sworn in as head of the SEC, becoming the 32nd chairman of the regulator. (source)
FINRA Releases Social Media Guidelines (May 3rd)
FINRA released an updated guideline for social media and digital communications. Guidelines were given for the sharing of content, re-tweeting, re-posts, ownership of shared content, likes and other social media actions. You can read the official release here.