2023 was another active year for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement, encompassing a wide range of violations against individuals and firms of all sizes.
Understanding 2023 enforcement actions along with the agency’s 2024 enforcement priorities will help firms better assess and anticipate regulatory expectations—and set the stage for better compliance.
The days when firms could write off regulatory fines as the cost of doing business are long over. Both the financial penalties and the reputational damage are too costly in the current regulatory environment.
According to the 2023 Starling Compendium, firms must have processes in place to prevent misconduct from happening in the first place.
On 11 January 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a "Dear CEO" letter to wholesale broker firms, highlighting key risks and drivers along with their supervisory focus for the next two years. The letter places particular emphasis on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR), market abuse, personal account dealing-and the need for firms to have robust systems and controls in place to effectively manage and evidence these risks.
With the end-February 2023 deadline for next steps looming, time is of the essence for senior executives and board members to review the current state of compliance in these areas and develop an action plan to fill in the gaps.
Organisations across the globe invest heavily in resources to strengthen relationships between the business and employees and create the best outcomes. Know Your Employee (KYE) initiatives centred around the recruitment process can result in high-quality talent acquisition. Background checking, identity verification, certifications, and other aspects are a high priority - and it’s no wonder. After all, the cost of replacing an employee is significant. ELMO & HRMI’s 2022 ANZ benchmark report shows an average of AUD $23,860 and 40 days to make new hires.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said in a speech to the Practicing Law Institute that during the fiscal year that just ended on September 30, the agency filed over 700 actions and obtained judgments and orders totaling $6.4 billion, including $4 billion in civil penalties.
The actions, outlined in a recent press release, covered a wide range of misconduct including charges around insider trading, disclosure failures and omissions, market manipulation and fraud, misleading investors, executive accountability, failure to maintain books and records, failure to register crypto as a security and insufficient policies and procedures.
