Money laundering, corruption, and human rights’ violations are at the forefront of many regulators’ and governments’ concerns. In order to mitigate the risks related to these behaviors, the authorities have put in place a range of measures, including sanctions, to limit their impact. This framework has often been inspired by US enforcement actions.
International financial institutions and multinational companies face many challenges in complying with what is now a complex regulatory environment. They need to, for example, identify indicators of money laundering and corrupt activities, and limit abuse by cartels. To do this, the companies need to have a range of robust measures in place.
The consequences to an institution of violating these regulations are significant: there can be substantial fines; the institution’s reputation can be severely damaged; and this can result in the loss of business opportunities.
Three experts from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer from Hong Kong and Tokyo offices will present current regulatory trends in key areas including:
Anti-money laundering and “know your client”
Anti-bribery and corruption: the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), UK Bribery Act, etc.
Recent developments in sanctions regimes targeting Iran, Myanmar and Russia and their impact on Japanese businesses (to whom foreign banks may be providing the funding and therefore exposed).
Mr. Sean King, Partner, Japan Financial Services Technology Practice Leader, PwC Advisory
Mr. Joe Dubbs, Director, PwC U.S. Financial Services Practice
Financial institutions have for many years been aware of information security and technology risks and how to put in place mitigation strategies to address them. But in recent years there has been an uptick in the different types of cyber threats and attacks on financial institutions, and the outcomes of some of these have shown that existing approaches are not robust enough. Firms now recognize the need for different approaches to effectively deal with these emerging threats.
Cyber attacks can result in a number of negative outcomes for a firm including financial damage, negative publicity and loss of customers. Executive management has an important role to play in addressing this business threat. They need to recognise that cyber risks are growing; have a mitigation strategy and structure in place to address these threats; and communicate and ‘set the tone’ about the importance of this issue within the organisation. Those who have adopted a more resilient cyber strategy are more likely to be able to keep pace with evolving threats and avoid some of the negative business consequences.
This seminar aims to set out how firms can achieve the following:
establish an effective approach to cyber risk governance
improve awareness of cyber organizational boundaries
identify critical business processes and assets
identify cyber threats
improve the collection, analysis and reporting of information
understand how to plan and respond to cyber threats
