The Department of Justice continues to respond to the compliance community’s concerns about the new certification requirement adopted as part of the Glencore FCPA enforcement action. DOJ has adopted this new requirement to “empower” CCOs and to ensure that CCOs have a “seat at the [senior management] table.” While these are all laudable goals, CCOs continue to question whether DOJ’s new certification requirement will undermine...
The Department of Justice continues to respond to the compliance community’s concerns about the new certification requirement adopted as part of the Glencore FCPA enforcement action. DOJ has adopted this new requirement to “empower” CCOs and to ensure that CCOs have a “seat at the [senior management] table.” While these are all laudable goals, CCOs continue to question whether DOJ’s new certification requirement will undermine their authority...
In a homecoming speech, DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite gave a rousing speech to a room full of compliance professionals at the annual Compliance Week meeting in Washington, D.C. AAG Polite, who has served as a CCO himself, embraced the mission of compliance officers as a critical part of corporate governance systems. AAG Polite specifically recognized the importance of the compliance functions and the...
The Biden Administration’s Department of Justice has promised aggressive white collar enforcement. On the flip side, the DOJ has recognized the importance of effective ethics and compliance programs. In an interesting speech, the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, Kenneth Polite, delivered an important speech on ethics and compliance programs. AAG Polite’s speech reiterated the importance of the Justice Department’s 2020 Evaluation of Corporate...
The release of ISO 37001 has triggered an important discussion among legal and compliance professionals. In a five-part series, I plan to address the value of ISO 37001, provide a substantive analysis, and to evaluate the contribution ISO 37001 has made (or will make) in the compliance field. First, I recommend that everyone spend time studying ISO 37001. It is a mistake to write off...
The New York DFS finalized its new AML and Sanctions screening regulations. Interestingly, the NYDFS backed off its original proposal to require a Chief Compliance Officer to certify to a compliance “finding” that the bank or other covered entities maintain an adequate AML and sanctions compliance program. In its place, the NYDFS regulations require an annual certification from senior management, i.e. those responsible for “management,...
When the going gets tough, the tough do not necessarily get going. This is evident in the world of corporate governance, compliance, and defense against aggressive government enforcement. Corporate lobbying interests are pushing a new and dangerous agenda, one that is shortsighted and certain to create problems for chief compliance officers. Several years ago the Chamber of Commerce launched an attack on FCPA enforcement with...
Just when you thought things could not get any weirder, along comes the New York Department of Financial Services and proposes a new regulation that sets forth minimum requirements for anti-money laundering transaction monitoring systems and sanctions watch list filtering. The regulations include an annual requirement that the Chief Compliance Officer at New York banks and money transmitters certifies that the bank’s or money transmitter’s...
