Compliance innovation moves fast, but the news moves faster. To keep you and your team up to speed on the latest happenings and goings-on in the compliance world, we’ve aggregated the top five articles from the past few weeks to provide you with an in-depth look at the regulatory ecosystem.
Stay up-to-date and in the know on everything happening in the compliance world as of December 22, 2023.
Cybersecurity Budgets, Benchmarks for Financial Services – Authors Julie Bernard and Meghana Kanitkar
A Deloitte survey reports that while financial institutions face constrained cybersecurity budgets, digital transformation remains the top driver for cybersecurity efforts. Regulatory pressure is gaining importance, and CISOs focus on business impact and risk alongside technological challenges.
“The survey finds that three in four financial services institutions identify coping with identified risks—such as audit findings and other regulatory issues—as the main drivers for cybersecurity spending, almost on par with new digital investments.”
Priorities include infrastructure and network security, threat detection, strategy, governance, and identity and access management. As cybersecurity assumes a more central role in business, CISOs align strategies with broader organizational needs, emphasizing digital transformation, risk reduction, and regulatory compliance. Outsourcing cybersecurity operations remains common.
5 highlights from the year in enforcement – Author Dan Shaw
This article highlights five enforcement focus areas from 2023. Coming as no surprise, topics like cryptocurrency and the books and records rule continued to remain a focus. The article highlighted such enforcements as:
- Books and records
- Fraud
- Reg BI
- ESG
- Cryptocurrency and digital assets
COMPLY launches crypto compliance tool – Author Alternatives Watch
New York-based COMPLY and blockchain tax solution ZenLedger have jointly launched COMPLY Digital Asset Trade Monitoring, described as a “first-of-its-kind” platform bridging the gap between cryptocurrency compliance and regulatory technology. The solution offers real-time insight into employees’ cryptocurrency holdings and transactions, automating blockchain and exchange monitoring. COMPLY’s Chief Product Officer, David Bliss, emphasized its role in helping firms comply with evolving SEC and IRS regulations, especially in light of potential enhanced regulatory oversight.
‘ “While we do not know with certainty if, or when, [regulators] might take specific action on digital assets, recent activity leads us to believe it is a matter of ’when,’ and not ’if,’’ Bliss concluded. “The most likely scenario is that in the short-term, the SEC will approve ETFs that track certain cryptocurrencies which will dramatically increase the retail access to this asset class in a more traditional manner, while the SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Congress debate which are securities and which are currencies and who should regulate them.”
20 Books Loved by Industry Execs – Author Janet Levaux
In this article, leaders across financial sectors, including RIAs, compliance firms, and fintech, discuss their favorite books. Topics ranged from management, entrepreneurship, and financial issues to health, cryptocurrencies, and a firm’s downfall, reflecting diverse interests.
Included in the list was COMPLY CEO Amy Kadomatsu, who shared her pick “The Creator’s Code: The Siz Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs” by Amy Wilkinson.
Firms struggle to monitor staffers even after WhatsApp probes – Author William Shaw
A report by Global Relay reveals that some Wall Street firms are still struggling to monitor client communications effectively. Two-thirds of financial firms aren’t capturing LinkedIn data, and only 3% monitor staff use of Zoom. Global Relay, working with firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS, collected data from over 10,000 financial entities. With the focus shifting to LinkedIn, experts suggest firms need to enhance their communication monitoring strategies. Regulatory settlements last year and ongoing probes highlight the challenges exacerbated by remote work during the pandemic.
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