News
FCPA Violations Becoming an Increasing Concern, Says Survey
By Larissa Bernardes
printFinancial institutions are increasingly renegotiating or dropping planned business deals over concerns that they might violate U.S. anti-bribery laws, according to a survey released Monday. Approximately 42 percent of the 216 companies questioned in the study said they had changed their business plans during the last three years, at times dropping deals altogether, because they wished to avoid costly penalties associated with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to New York-based Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. About one-third of the companies said they had become "significantly more concerned" about potential violations of the act, passed in 1977, according to Deloitte....
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
The Bank of England reportedly exerts "strong pressure" on Russia's second largest bank, an arrested Zetas leader's sons tweet incriminating photographs, and more, in this week's news roundup.
U.K. leaders intend to review whether facilitation should be legal again, CFATF warns countries about the risks of Belize, Guyana and Dominica, and more, in this week's news roundup.
An intergovernmental group Tuesday criticized Austria, Spain and the Netherlands for failing to sufficiently investigate and convict individuals and corporations that bribe foreign officials.
The U.S. Justice Department's long-awaited guidance for businesses complying with a foreign anti-bribery law will do little to change its enforcement even as it sets some minds at ease, say attorneys.
Pending U.S. guidance for the country's foreign anti-bribery law and an ongoing political push to amend its rules could mean compliance changes for banks and other businesses, say analysts.
As global efforts to crack down on bribery grow, financial institutions need to more closely scrutinize the accounts they maintain for politically-tied figures, according to a former senior assistant U.S. attorney.
Financial institutions operating in the U.K. could be among the first companies fined under a new British anti-bribery law, according to speakers at an anti-money laundering conference in Amsterdam Monday.
The United Kingdom's law enforcement arm said Wednesday that it would not pursue convictions under a new anti-bribery law against companies and individuals with a limited presence in the country.
A stringent new British anti-bribery law will be implemented before the end of the year despite concerns from the business community and the Cameron government, according to the measure's authors.
Senate panel members Tuesday criticized the U.S. Justice Department's enforcement of a U.S. anti-bribery law even as representatives from the commercial sector asked Congress to better shield it from penalties.
The departure Friday of the Justice Department's top enforcer of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act will mark an end to an era, not a slowdown in penalties against violators, say analysts.
The rise in U.S. prosecutions of companies that bribe foreign officials won't likely plateau for another four or five years, when European countries are expected to further clamp down on the crime, according to the former assistant chief for the Fraud Section of the Justice Department.
A British anti-bribery bill expected to pass this month could increase the likelihood that U.S. financial institutions and other companies will face sizable monetary penalties for overseas deals, say consultants.
The U.S. Justice Department plans to grow its staff of less than 10 prosecutors specializing in cases tied to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to 15 or more, a spokeswoman confirmed.
Banks and other companies around the world are delaying deals in developing markets, in some cases canceling projects altogether, because they are afraid of being snared by anti-corruption laws, according to a private survey released today.
The conviction of a former U.S. congressman on corruption charges is more than just another public scandal, say white-collar crime analysts. It's a sign that the United States is increasingly willing to levy a 1977 anti-bribery law against individuals, they say.
The number and size of fines levied annually against financial institutions and other corporations for bribery is likely to continue to rise as the global recession fuels corruption, say analysts.
Defendants in an international bribery case have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case that could alter the way that the U.S. Justice Department enforces an international anti-corruption law, according to legal analysts.
The United States is likely to ramp up penalties against financial institutions and other companies that have bribed Chinese officials to gain entry into the Asian market, including business involving the Olympics, say consultants.
With the Justice Department and SEC taking a more aggressive approach to enforcing the act, there has been a dramatic increase in investigations and enforcement actions, lawyers and compliance professionals say. Many of the violations are associated with money laundering cases.