All the Cool Kids Worry About Fintech Now

Finally, proof that U.S. regulators can grasp new trends or stay current on modern business issues: with startling speed and coordination, every regulator who’s any regulator has started worrying about fintech. “Fintech” is startup-speak for financial technology, a branch of the financial world that was huge already, and for some reason has suddenly captivated regulators attention all over again.…

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Overseeing the Audit Amid a Winter of Turmoil

As Wall Street crashes around our ears this week—down 1.5 percent just today, and off to its worst yearly start ever—audit committees at financial firms should strap yourselves in. This year’s audit could be the most tumultuous you’ve overseen in a long while. At least, that’s the conclusion I reach as I re-read the guidance…

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Audit Committees in Banking, Listen Up

internal audit

Audit committees at big international banks have just been nudged. Whether that nudge is friendly or not remains to be seen. The regulatory poke to the ribs came in a bulletin issued Friday by three U.S. banking regulators, voicing their support for external audits of large banks done according to standards issued by the Basel…

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How We’re Tackling Systemic Risk in the Financial System Today

I had the good fortune yesterday to participate in a briefing with a few lawyers from Quarles and Brady, a mid-sized firm based in Wisconsin that handles corporate law. We were there to talk about compliance issues facing the financial services industry in 2016—and you’ll be happy to know that compliance officers will have no…

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