Waters on 2019 Oversight Plans

Waters

Attention all enthusiasts of financial policy coming from Washington: Maxine Waters, new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, just gave her first speech outlining her priorities for 2019. Expect lots of hearings and lots of focus on consumer issues, ranging from fair housing policy to diversity in hiring among financial firms. Waters, a Democrat…

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Regulatory Reform Bill — Ignores SOX!

misconduct

The House of Representatives passed a significant regulatory reform legislation Tuesday — and while the bill’s fate in the Senate is unclear, compliance professionals should examine what’s not in the bill. That tells us a lot about how regulatory reform will probably unfold in 2018 and 2019 anyway. The legislation, formally known as the Jobs…

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The Jim Jordan Compliance Angle…

Jordan

Interesting detail about the proto-scandal swirling around Jim Jordan, the Republican congressman accused of turning a blind eye to sexual misconduct on the Ohio State wrestling team when he was assistant coach there: Jordan might have violated the school’s sexual harassment Code of Conduct. For those not following this story, Jordan has represented Ohio’s 4th…

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Congress Struggles on Breach Disclosure Law

cybersecurity

Congress held a hearing on data breach disclosure rules today, where speakers and lawmakers alike struggled with questions over a national breach disclosure law, who should bear liability for breaches, and what information customers are entitled to know, and when. The hearing, held by the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, reached no particular…

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The Undercurrents Roiling Congress This Morning

By now most Americans don’t remember James Thompson, a civil rights lawyer in Kansas. He was the Democrat who lost a special election there in April, to fill a congressional seat vacated when the incumbent congressman, Mike Pompeo, took a job leading the CIA. Thompson received only 46 percent of the vote on that April…

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Special Report: Corporate Taxes

Taxes

Radical Compliance and Calcbench have another special research report on the streets today, this time examining what Corporate America actually pays in income taxes—which, over the last five years, averages around 22.8 percent of pre-tax income. You can download and read the full report, “We Are the 22.8 Percent: Analysis of income taxes paid among…

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Clayton, Congress Talk Cybersecurity

Jay Clayton

SEC chairman Jay Clayton appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, a wonderfully poetic bit of timing to talk about cybersecurity. He and his Senate overlords jousted over the Equifax breach earlier this month, the SEC’s own breach disclosed just last week, and the duties companies may or may not have to investors and…

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The Private Market Stresses Driving SOX Compliance Debate

If you want to understand the forces pushing to roll back compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act—and if you work in corporate compliance, you should—then spend time today reading a superb Wall Street Journal article about the conflicted state of investment in the private markets. We can’t ignore the uncertainty there, because it’s a big driver…

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Framing the Arguments Over SOX Compliance

sox compliance

Well, it’s started. Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission have begun plotting ways to roll back corporate compliance and governance practices. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a top priority. New SEC chairman Jay Clayton fired the starting gun on July 12, when he gave his first public address as chairman. He laid out eight concerns…

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More Details on Regulators’ Proposed Staff Cuts

Criminal Division

The Justice Department has proposed trimming the number of Criminal Division prosecutors by 6 percent next year and overall division staff by 11.4 percent, according to the detailed budget the Trump Administration released earlier this week. The SEC, meanwhile, wants to keep spending level at $1.6 billion but trim staff in almost all of its…

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