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The Morning Risk Report: CCOs Meet to Tackle the Challenge of a Changing Business Climate

By David Smagalla | Dow Jones Risk Journal

 

Good morning. A new U.S. presidential administration, the weight of regulatory change and the expansion of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies into every aspect of the compliance field is creating a dynamic and ever-evolving environment for risk and compliance professionals.

With that in mind, the WSJ CCO Council Summit convened for its second annual meeting in London this week. Risk and compliance executives, in interviews and breakout sessions, discussed some of the big issues facing compliance leaders. Our coverage of the conference includes:

AI and compliance: Organizations are increasingly using artificial intelligence to automate rote compliance tasks, freeing up staff for trickier work, lawyers for BT Group and Microsoft said at a panel session on Wednesday. Chatbots and other tools, for example, are beginning to usurp the role of front-line compliance employees, providing automated responses to certain queries.

Risk frontiers: Upticks in geopolitical issues and regulatory changes have captured the attention of boards and C-suites. They want more visibility into risks their companies face and the speed at which risks are likely to occur. The increasing speed of climate, geopolitical and supply-chain risks means global companies are developing more robust enterprise risk management processes to manage and mitigate risks.

Potential for sanctions misalignment: Senior trade compliance officers are expressing concern about the potential for misalignment on sanctions policy between the U.S., U.K. and the European Union if the three sanctions regimes diverge around Russia. Multinational companies already responsible for complying with multiple sanctions regimes would be loaded with complex operational decisions and anomalies if one rolled back sanctions while others didn’t.

Also see:

  • U.K. Competition Enforcer Willing to Work With U.S., Others
  • SFO Wants More Whistleblowers to Report in the U.K.
 
Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
Don’t Neglect Internal Controls Frameworks in M&A Deals. Here’s Why

Along with the financial side of the deal, it can be vital to consider the role internal controls can play throughout the M&A life cycle to reduce surprises and support long-term synergies. Read More

More Risk & Compliance articles from Deloitte
 

Compliance

A Credit Suisse unit agreed this week to pay $511 million for not meeting the terms of a 2014 settlement with U.S. authorities. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Whistleblowers who defied Credit Suisse are about to share up to $150 million.

A decade ago, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to helping Americans evade taxes by stashing cash and assets overseas and pledged to stop doing so.

Now former bank employees collectively stand to make up to $150 million for quietly telling U.S. authorities that Credit Suisse wasn’t living up to its promise.

Two bankers have so far emerged as whistleblowers in the case, though it is possible that more might do so. They could collect between 15% and 30% from the Justice Department settlement, which could be one of the largest tax whistleblower awards in IRS history.

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  • Former cryptocurrency evangelist Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison​ on Thursday after pleading guilty to fraud in connection with the multibillion-dollar collapse of his firm, Celsius Network, three years ago.
     
  • President Trump said he was dropping his controversial nominee to be the top federal prosecutor in Washington, Ed Martin, after several Republican senators signaled they couldn’t support him.
     
  • The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation aimed at sanctioning foreign companies engaged in economic and industrial espionage against American businesses.
     
  • Apple has filed an emergency motion to temporarily fend off changes to the U.S. App Store that were ordered by a district court judge in its antitrust suit with Epic Games, according to Barron's. 
     
  • Republican Representatives Michael McCaul and Bill Huizenga have introduced legislation aimed at modernizing missile technology export controls to ease sharing defense technology with key allies, a move aimed at slowing China’s military advancements.
     
  • California and 16 other Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over its decision to end billions of dollars in funding meant for the expansion of electric-vehicle charging infrastructure nationwide.
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$150 Million

Collective award amount to be split among unnamed former Credit Suisse employees who blew the whistle to U.S. authorities on the Swiss bank reneging on its promise to stop helping Americans evade taxes by stashing cash and assets overseas.

 

Risk

President Trump speaks with reporters after announcing a trade deal with the U.K. in the Oval Office. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press

U.S. and U.K. unveil framework for trade deal.

President Trump said Thursday his administration and the U.K. agreed to the outlines of a deal on trade, the first in what the White House hopes will be a series of agreements in the wake of U.S. tariffs imposed on allies and adversaries alike.

The details: The pact, which appeared to have been put together hastily by U.S. and British officials, is fairly limited in scope. The Trump administration agreed to roll back tariffs imposed on British steel and automobiles in exchange for purchasing Boeing jets and giving American farmers greater access to U.K. markets.

  • The U.S.-U.K. Trade Relationship Is Unique. Here’s Why.
  • With U.K. Deal, U.S. Signals That 10% Tariff on World Is New Baseline
  • Trump’s Bespoke Trade Deal With U.K. Sets Little Precedent for Other Nations
 

China demands tariff removal ahead of Geneva talks.

Ahead of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies in Geneva this weekend, China’s Commerce Ministry on Thursday demanded Washington remove tariffs on Chinese products as a prerequisite for substantive negotiations, emphasizing Beijing won’t compromise principles for any deal.

  • China’s Exports to U.S. Plunge, in Sign of Bite From Trump Tariffs
  • How Will Tariffs Dent Asia Growth? It’s Still Too Early to Tell, IMF Official Says
 
  • Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell played down any impressions Wednesday that the central bank was looking ahead to cushion economic weakness from President Trump’s tariffs by cutting rates.
     
  • The European Union said it could target American cars, car parts, airplanes and other products with tariffs if negotiations with the U.S. break down.
     
  • Shippers aren’t yet confident enough to return to routes through the Red Sea, despite a tentative cease-fire deal between the U.S. and Yemen’s Houthi militia.
     
  • Risks to Canada’s financial stability have risen due to U.S. trade policy, the Bank of Canada said Thursday.
     
  • A group of Iranian men recently arrested in Britain had been planning an attack on the Israeli Embassy in London, according to British officials.
     
  • India said it intercepted missiles and drones launched by Pakistan on Thursday that targeted military installments on its territory, turning up the heat in a confrontation between the two nuclear-armed states.
     
  • The Trump administration can revamp the nation’s air-traffic control system in three to four years if Congress approves billions of dollars in funding, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday.
 ‏‏‎ ‎

“This is the chain reaction. Everyone is suffering.”

— Hong Konger Alan Chau, who faces a cash crunch as new orders to his China factory from the U.S. dry up.
 

Executive Insights

Here is our weekly roundup of stories from across WSJ Pro that we think you’ll find useful.

  • Early opponents of corporate influence in healthcare are spotting parallels in another trusted profession where private equity is making a push: accounting.
     
  • AI is changing the way we search online. Advertisers are already falling behind.
     
  • IBM has used AI to replace the work of a couple hundred human resources workers. As a result, it has hired more programmers and salespeople, and it promises higher total employment.
     
  • WeightWatchers, whose dieting and wellness programs were once a central part of U.S. fitness culture, has filed for bankruptcy to adjust to the increasing use of drugs for weight loss.
     
 

What Else Matters

  • The Roman Catholic Church elected the first American pope in its history, placing its 1.4 billion faithful in the hands of a missionary-turned-Vatican prelate who has been critical of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
     
  • Coinbase Global has agreed to acquire Deribit, the world’s biggest trading platform for bitcoin and ether options, for roughly $2.9 billion, executives told The Wall Street Journal.
     
  • The U.S. Naval Academy’s culling of hundreds of library books to comply with a Trump administration order is whipping up waves of discontent in Annapolis, a city where institutional pride runs uncommonly deep. The message from many locals: Don’t give up the book.
     
  • President Trump said he would name Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be Washington’s top federal prosecutor on an interim basis, after his first choice for the job failed to gather enough Republican support.
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About Us

Follow us on X at @WSJRisk. Send tips to our reporters Mengqi Sun at mengqi.sun@wsj.com and Richard Vanderford at richard.vanderford@wsj.com.

You can also reach us by replying to any newsletter, or by emailing our editor David Smagalla at david.smagalla@wsj.com.

 
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