Money Archives - The Industry Spread

MAS to Issue Up to Five Digital Bank Licences

July 4, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: banking sector, Digital Bank Licences, Money

Singapore, 28 June 2019… The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that it will issue up to five new digital bank licences. This is in addition to any digital banks that the Singapore banking groups may also establish under the existing internet banking framework introduced in 2000. The move announced today extends digital bank licences to non-bank players.

Announcing the measures at the 46th Annual Dinner of The Association of Banks in Singapore, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Chairman of MAS, said that “The new digital bank licences mark the next chapter in Singapore’s banking liberalisation journey. They will ensure that Singapore’s banking sector continues to be resilient, competitive and vibrant.”

The entry of new digital players will add diversity and help strengthen Singapore’s banking system in the digital economy of the future. With innovative business models and strong digital capabilities, these players can cater to under-served segments of the market. They will provide impetus for existing banks to continue enhancing the quality of their digital offerings.

The five new digital bank licences will comprise –
(a) up to two digital full bank licences, which allow licensees to provide a wide range of financial services and take deposits from retail customers; and
(b) up to three digital wholesale bank licences, which allow licensees to serve SMEs and other non-retail segments.

Application for digital full bank licences is open to companies headquartered in Singapore and controlled by Singaporeans. Foreign companies are eligible for these full bank licences if they form a joint venture with a Singapore company, and the joint venture meets the headquarter and control requirements. Application for digital wholesale bank licences is open to all companies.

Details of the eligibility criteria for digital full banks and digital wholesale banks are at Annex A and Annex B respectively. A summary of the progressive liberalisation of Singapore’s banking sector over the last 20 years is at Annex C.

Timeline
MAS expects to invite applications in August 2019, and will provide more details on the eligibility and admission criteria at that time.

SEC Adopts Amendments to Improve the Application of the Auditor Independence Rules to Loan Provision

June 24, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: business, federal register, industry, industry news, Loan Provision, Money, regulatory announcement, SEC

Washington D.C., June 18, 2019 — The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to the auditor independence rules relating to the analysis that must be conducted to determine whether an auditor is independent when the auditor has a lending relationship with certain shareholders of an audit client.

The Commission has become aware of circumstances where the existing rules capture relationships that otherwise do not bear on the impartiality or objectivity of the auditor. The amendments are intended to focus the rules on those lending relationships that reasonably may bear on external auditors’ impartiality or objectivity and, in so doing, improve the application of the Loan Provision for the benefit of investors while reducing compliance burdens.

“This rulemaking reflects the staff’s extensive experience and judgment, and I thank them for their continued commitment to retrospective review,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. “The amendments we are adopting today will more effectively identify debtor-creditor relationships that could impair an auditor’s objectivity and impartiality, as opposed to certain more attenuated relationships that are unlikely to pose such threats.”

These amendments will become effective 90 days after they are published in the Federal Register.

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FACT SHEET

Auditor Independence With Respect to Certain Loans or Debtor-Creditor Relationships
SEC Seriatim Approval

Action

The Commission adopted amendments to the auditor independence rules relating to the analysis that must be conducted to determine whether an auditor is independent when the auditor has a lending relationship with certain shareholders of an audit client. The amendments are intended to more effectively identify debtor-creditor relationships that could impair an auditor’s objectivity and impartiality, as opposed to certain more attenuated relationships that are unlikely to pose such threats.

Highlights

Rule 2-01(c)(1)(ii)(A) of Regulation S-X (the “Loan Provision”) generally provides that an auditor is not independent if that auditor is in a lending relationship with its audit client. In recent years, the Commission has become aware that, in certain circumstances, the existing Loan Provision may not have been functioning as it was intended.

The amendments will focus the analysis on beneficial ownership rather than on both record and beneficial ownership; replace the existing ten percent bright-line shareholder ownership test with a significant influence test; add a known through reasonable inquiry standard with respect to identifying beneficial owners of the audit client’s equity securities; and exclude from the definition of audit client, for a fund under audit, any other funds that otherwise would be considered affiliates of the audit client under the rules for certain lending relationships.

What’s next?

These amendments will become effective 90 days after they are published in the Federal Register.

SEC Announces 2019 Government-Business Forum to Be Held in Omaha

June 16, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: business, Creighton University, entrepreneurs, Government-Business, industry, Money, OASB, Omaha, Remarks, SEC, small business

Washington D.C., June 12, 2019 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it will host the 38th annual Government-Business Forum on August 14, 2019, in Omaha, Nebraska. The Forum provides a platform to highlight perceived impediments to capital formation, culminating in recommendations for government and private action to improve the environment for small businesses. The Forum will be hosted in partnership with the Heider College of Business at Creighton University.

This is the first year that the newly established Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (OASB) will coordinate the annual Forum. “We are looking forward to this important event where market participants provide invaluable feedback on ways to improve the small business capital formation landscape,” said SEC Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation Martha Legg Miller.
Jay Clayton, SEC Chairman
“Hosting the Forum this year in the heart of the Silicon Prairie is a great continuation of reaching out to, and hearing directly from, small businesses and their investors from across the country,” said Chairman Jay Clayton.

The Forum will begin at 9 a.m. Central Time and will be free and open to the public. It will be held in the Hixson-Lied Auditorium on the campus of Creighton University. As in past years, the format of the Forum will include a live webcast informational morning session followed by an afternoon working session where participants will formulate specific policy recommendations in groups. The afternoon breakout group sessions will not be webcast but will be accessible by teleconference for those not attending in person. Anyone wishing to participate in a breakout group either in person or by teleconference must register online by August 9.

Information on the Forum full agenda, including the panel topics and breakout sessions, will be announced in the coming weeks and will be available on the Forum website.

Members of the public are invited to suggest topics to be discussed at the Forum through the registration form or by contacting OASB at Events_OASB@sec.gov.

Following the Forum, Ms. Miller will provide remarks to entrepreneurs as a featured speaker at the Maha Discovery Conference on August 15.

SEC Updates List of Firms Using Inaccurate Information to Solicit Investors

June 15, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: avoiding fraud, Federal government, federal securities laws, fraud, Impersonators, Investor Alert, investors, Investors Buy Stock, Money, PAUSE, SEC

Washington D.C., June 10, 2019 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it updated its list of unregistered entities that use Inaccurate information to solicit primarily non-U.S. investors, adding 11 soliciting entities, four impersonators of genuine firms, and nine bogus regulators.

The SEC’s list of soliciting entities that have been the subject of investor complaints, known as the Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities (PAUSE) list, enables investors to better inform themselves and avoid being a victim of fraud. The latest additions are firms that SEC staff found were providing inaccurate information about their affiliation, location, or registration. Under U.S. securities laws, firms that solicit investors generally are required to register with the SEC and meet minimum financial standards and disclosure, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements.

Jennifer Diamantis, Chief of the SEC’s Office of Market Intelligence
“By making this information readily available through the PAUSE list, investors are better able to evaluate solicitations to buy and sell securities and avoid being a victim of fraud,” said Jennifer Diamantis, Chief of the SEC’s Office of Market Intelligence.

In addition to alerting investors to firms falsely claiming to be registered, the PAUSE list flags those impersonating registered securities firms and bogus “regulators” who falsely claim to be government agencies or affiliates. Inclusion on the PAUSE list does not mean the SEC has found violations of U.S. federal securities laws or made a judgment about the merits of any securities being offered.

The PAUSE list is periodically updated by the SEC’s Office of Market Intelligence in coordination with the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Office of International Affairs.

How to protect yourself:

Be aware that fraudsters may impersonate government agencies to lure investors into scams, including advance fee fraud schemes.

Impersonators may falsely claim to be affiliated with the SEC (or another federal government agency) in an attempt to steal your personal information or your money. Federal government agencies, including the SEC, do not endorse or sponsor any particular securities, issuers, products, services, professional credentials, firms, or individuals.

Investor Alert: SEC Impersonators Pretend to Help Investors Buy Stock.

Visit Investor.gov for tips on investing wisely and avoiding fraud.

The Federal Council adopts dispatch on AEOI with 19 Further Partner States and Approves First Review Report

June 6, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: AEoI, alternative investment, Buiness, EFD, exchange data, Federal Council, industry, industry news, investment, Money, Switzerland

Bern, 29.05.2019 – During its meeting on 29 May 2019, the Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the introduction of the automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) with 19 further partner states. Entry into force is planned for 2020 with the first exchange of data in 2021. Furthermore, the Federal Council has approved the report on the review mechanism for standard-compliant implementation of the AEOI by partner states.

Of the 108 states and territories that are currently committed to the AEOI standard, 19 are not yet part of Switzerland’s AEOI network. With the corresponding expansion of the AEOI network, Switzerland is helping to create a level playing field worldwide.

Specifically, the Federal Council intends to exchange financial account information for the first time in 2021 with the following other partner countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam, Dominica, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Macao, the Maldives, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Peru, Samoa, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Vanuatu. In the period between the initiation of the consultation process and the publication of the dispatch, Oman has also declared that it will implement the AEIO by 2020. For this reason, the Federal Council has also included this state in the list of further partner states.

The corresponding federal decrees are to be submitted to Parliament for approval in the autumn and winter sessions this year, so that the AEIO could be activated with these partner states from 2020. Before an initial exchange of data with these partner states, the Federal Council will once again review whether they meet the requirements of the AEIO standard. It therefore intends to apply by analogy the review mechanism adopted by Parliament in December 2017 to all the new AEOI partner states mentioned above.

On 29 May 2019, the Federal Council also approved the report on the review mechanism for standard-compliant implementation of the AEIO by the partner states with which Switzerland intends to exchange data for the first time in autumn 2019. It has instructed the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) to submit the report to the parliamentary committees for consultation. The Federal Council will then decide whether any data at all should be exchanged with a partner state.

At the end of September 2018, Switzerland automatically exchanged financial account information with 36 states and territories for the first time and plans to exchange data with 37 further partner states at the end of September 2019.

Chairman Giancarlo to Receive Freedom of the City of London

June 3, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: business, CFTC, feudal lord, industry news, investment, investor, Money, property

Washington, DC — Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo has been nominated to receive the Freedom of the City of London on Tuesday, June 4, 2019.

“I am deeply humbled by this honor,” said Giancarlo. “It is a huge privilege to be part of such an ancient tradition in such a forward-looking city.”

The Freedom of the City of London is one of the oldest surviving traditional ceremonies still in existence today, believed to have been first presented in 1237. The medieval term ‘freeman’ meant someone who was not the property of a feudal lord but enjoyed privileges such as the right to earn money and own land. Town dwellers who were protected by the charter of their town or city were often free – hence the term ‘freedom’ of the City.

From the Middle Ages and the Victorian era, the Freedom was the right to trade, enabling members of a Guild or Livery to carry out their trade or craft in the Square Mile. In 1835, the Freedom was widened to incorporate not just members of Livery Companies but also people living or working in the City or those with a strong London connection.

Chairman Giancarlo was nominated for the Freedom by Catherine McGuinness, the Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee for the City of London Corporation. His nomination was seconded by Erica Elliott Richardson, a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and Director of External Affairs at the CFTC. The Court of Common Council approved Giancarlo’s nomination on May 23, 2019.

FMA Research Highlights Gap Between What Investors Expect and What Auditors Deliver

May 26, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: Auditors Deliver, FMA, industry perceptions, investors, licensed audit, market integrity, Money

An FMA research project with investors, directors, managers and auditors has identified reasonable levels of confidence in audit quality, but also a serious gap in the expectations of investors and what auditors deliver. The FMA commissioned the research to better understand public and industry perceptions of audit quality in New Zealand.

Just over half of investors surveyed (56%) agreed they would trust the audit profession to act with ethics and integrity, while 68% of company directors indicated they trusted the audit profession. When asked the same question, 98% of auditors trusted their profession.

There is a similar gap between investors and the profession’s view of itself when asked about the independence of auditors, and their level of professional scepticism and ability to challenge management and directors in conducting their audits reviews.

About half of investors (48%) thought the quality of audit was of a high standard, with more directors (57%) agreeing audit was of high quality.

Rob Everett

Rob Everett, FMA Chief Executive said: “Auditors have an important role to play in contributing to market integrity and informed, investor decision-making.
“While we can see that overall confidence is positive, serious expectation gaps exist among stakeholders with what they believe audit actually delivers. Our research shows that investors are not connected to the value that auditors can bring. To fill these gaps we need a concerted effort from the industry to explain their work and how they operate.
“The research also identifies the role the FMA can play to improve public understanding about the regulation and oversight of the licensed audit profession.”

The findings and insights from the survey have been provided to the industry to help auditors and audit firms improve how they provide assurance to investors. Investors are the end – user of audit services, in terms of the audited financial information they rely on to make informed decision about investing their money, so it’s critical for auditors to responds to investors’ expectations.

Rob Everett spoke about the survey results in a forum for the audit profession in Auckland yesterday.

GFSC Welcomes New Board Member

May 14, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: finance, financial services, GFSC, Gibraltar Financial, International firm, Money

The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission ( GFSC ) is pleased to announce the appointment, by the Minster for Commerce, of Emilio Gomez to its Board. The designation comes after Emma Perez finished her tenure on the Board, in December 2018.

Mr Gomez began his career in 1974 at Messrs Galliano and Isola, and later moved in 1986 to International firm, KPMG, where he became a partner.

In 2004, Mr Gomez successfully merged his practice with Baker Tilly, which led to the incorporation of Baker Tilly (Gibraltar) Ltd.

During his career, Mr Gomez has been president of the Gibraltar Accountants Society and Chairman of both the Gibraltar Insurance Association and the Gibraltar Finance Centre Council.

“I am delighted to be joining the Board of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission and I look forward to fulfilling my role in the best interests of Gibraltar.
I would like to thank Minister Isola for providing me with this exciting opportunity.” Mr Gomez said of his appointment.
Dr Jonathan Spencer, Chairman of the GFSC added: “I am very pleased to welcome Mr Gomez to the GFSC Board. The whole organisation is looking forward to the expertise and insight he will bring during his term of office.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Emma Perez for her wise and thoughtful contribution to the Board.”

Mr Gomez’s first Board meeting will take place in June 2019.

FCA Changes Mortgage Advice Rules to Encourage Consumer Choice

May 11, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: business, Consumer Choice, consumers, FCA, industry, Money, Mortgage, Mortgage Advice Rules, Mortgages Market, news, Rules

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published proposals for changes to its mortgage advice rules which will help to give consumers more choice in how they buy a mortgage.

The proposals are one part of a package of remedies from the Mortgages Market Study, published earlier this year, which aims to encourage innovation and make it easier for customers to find the right mortgage.

The FCA identified a number of ways its advice rules are acting as a barrier to the development of new tools to help customers choose and buy a mortgage and the consultation today is designed to address the problems identified.

Christopher Woolard, FCA Executive Director of Strategy and Competition
Christopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA said:
‘The mortgage market is working well for most customers but we have identified some areas where our rules are acting as a barrier to innovation. The changes we’ve announced today will allow firms to develop products and services which can truly meet the needs of customers.’

The FCA is proposing to change its rules to make it clear that tools which allow customers to search and filter available mortgages are not necessarily giving advice. It will also be clearer that some forms of interaction, such as firms helping consumers with their applications, do not require advice.

Where a mortgage adviser recommends a mortgage which is not the cheapest of those that meet the customer’s needs and circumstances, they will now be required to explain why any cheaper mortgage has not been recommended.

The FCA is also making changes to the standards around execution only policies.

The FCA is consulting on the new rules until 7 July 2019 and will publish its feedback and final rules around the end of the year.

Former Financial adviser Pleads Guilty to Dishonestly Obtaining Client Funds

May 10, 2019 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: ASIC, business, Client Funds, financial adviser, financial planning, Money, penalty

Former financial adviser, Mr Trevor William Martin, has pleaded guilty in the District Court of NSW, to three counts of dishonestly obtaining client funds under the NSW Crimes Act.

An ASIC investigation found that between 1 June 2011 to April 2015, Mr Martin, formerly of Kiama, NSW, dishonestly obtained approximately $208,000 from clients, by:

advising clients of investment opportunities;
telling clients that he would invest monies on their behalf;
inducing clients to transfer money to his business account;
not investing the monies as represented; and
using the money for his own personal expenses and other purposes.

Mr Martin was an authorised representative of The Salisbury Group and later, Charter Financial Planning Limited, which is owned by AMP.

Sentencing for the matter has been listed for 16 August 2019 in the District Court of NSW. The Court imposed several bail conditions on Mr Martin, including the surrender of his passport. The charge of dishonestly obtaining property by deception carries a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the matter.