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The Morning Risk Report: Europe Goes Harder on Money Laundering With Record ING Fine |
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Banking group ING Groep NV agreed to pay a record European fine to settle a money laundering investigation. PHOTO: YVES HERMAN/REUTERS
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Good morning. Banks world-wide are under increasing pressure to clamp down on the trillions of dollars’ worth of illegal money flowing through the global financial system. Two recent cases — including a record fine announced Tuesday — illustrate the trend.
Record fine: Banking group ING Groep NV agreed to pay a record European fine of €775 million ($899.8 million) to settle an investigation by Dutch prosecutors into money laundering. Meanwhile, Danish lender Danske Bank saw its shares tumble 6.5% following a report in The Financial Times that local prosecutors had uncovered a higher than expected tally of allegedly illegal Russian money moving through its
Estonian branch.
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Europe's policing lags U.S.: The U.S. has led the way in policing banks in the past decade. Since 2008, it has imposed around $23.52 billion in fines, according to consultants Fenergo, hitting lenders whose ineffective systems officials say have let clients launder money out of countries such as Mexico, Russia and Venezuela. European regulators and prosecutors extracted $1.7 billion over such breaches in the same period, including Tuesday’s ING fine.
Cracking down: The EU’s anti-money-laundering laws are policed by a patchwork of local regulators, which critics say leaves it open to criminal abuse. More recently, local regulators have toughened their stance after embarrassing data leaks from whistleblowers on company money laundering and tax avoidance and criticism that the authorities have been too meek in pursuing such transactions.
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| From Risk & Compliance Journal |
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Sanofi’s CEO said the company has strengthened its compliance program. PHOTO: CHARLES PLATIAU/REUTERS
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Sanofi Pays $25 Million to Settle Bribery Charges |
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French pharmaceutical company Sanofi SA agreed to pay $25.2 million to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that its subsidiaries paid bribes to win business, Risk & Compliance Journal's Samuel Rubenfeld reports. The payments violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars bribes to foreign officials for business purposes, the SEC said. The company neither admits or denies the SEC’s allegations.
Industry-wide issue: Bribery connected to pharmaceutical sales continues to be a significant problem despite enforcement actions involving the industry, and life sciences more generally, said Charles Cain, who leads the FCPA unit of the SEC’s enforcement division. “While bribery risk can impact any industry, this matter illustrates that more work needs to be done to address the particular risks posed in the pharmaceutical industry,” he said.
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After Probes, U.S. Declines to Prosecute U.K. Drilling Firm Ensco |
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Colin Kaepernick revealed his role in the Nike ad campaign with a Monday tweet that said, ‘Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt.’ PHOTO: PETER DEJONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Nike Risks Backlash With Colin Kaepernick Deal |
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Nike Inc. ventured into charged political territory when it put National Football League quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick at the center of its latest advertising campaign, risking backlash to align itself with a cause that has resonated with young consumers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The shoe giant saw opposition to its decision in the aftermath of the announcement when many shoppers began calling for boycotts of its products. Shares of the company fell more than 3% Tuesday, though they are still up about 27% for the year.
The Associated Press released a list of other companies that have atracted political controversey recently.
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Sheryl Sandberg’s New Job: Fix Facebook’s Reputation—and Her Own |
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Amid questions about her influence at the social network, the high-profile executive has been asked to tackle safety and security issues. But can the deliberative Ms. Sandberg ride herd on a free-wheeling engineering culture?
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Blood-Testing Firm Theranos to Dissolve |
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Toyota Recalls More Than 1 Million Vehicles Over Fire
Risk |
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U.S. Investigates FBI Response To Gymnasts’ Sex-Abuse
Claims |
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The Department of Justice launched an investigation into the FBI’s handling of sexual-abuse allegations against former U.S. gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.
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JD.com Founder Liu Had Been Arrested on Suspicion of
Rape |
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Lego Tempers Ambitions for a New, Slow-Growth Era |
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Amazon Won’t Be Second to Apple for Long |
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Apple may have been the first U.S. company to reach a market value of $1 trillion, but the iPhone maker's days as the world’s most valuable company could be numbered.
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Calpers’ Bet on Sacramento’s Planned Tallest Tower Splits Board |
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Sacramento officials are cheering the California Public Employees’ Retirement System's decision to build what would be the city’s tallest tower. But some Calpers board members are concerned.
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Readers can subscribe to The Morning Risk Report here: http://on.wsj.com/MorningRiskReportSignup. Follow us on Twitter at @WSJRisk.
Follow the WSJ Risk & Compliance Team on Twitter: @WSJRisk, @srubenfeld and @LikelyMara.
Send comments to the Risk & Compliance editor, Jack Hagel, at jack.hagel@wsj.com.
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