As we look ahead to what 2025 could offer, let’s also reflect on the year that’s wrapping up. As we navigate this holiday timeframe in which no one really knows what day it is, our team at GRIP suggests that you put on some comfy slippers, grab that warm beverage and reflect on some good reads.
Below are some of our most popular articles with our readers in 2024. In each we have detailed and ruminated on some of the regulatory compliance challenges affecting highly regulated businesses across the globe in 2024 – they feature AML and AI as topics, plus cybersecurity and cryptocurrency trends.
And, if you’ve found our coverage useful, we kindly ask that you consider sharing our newsletter with your colleagues, so they too can stay more informed in 2025. A very happy new year to you; we look forward to engaging with you more in 2025.
#10: TD Bank’s long-running AML case – fentanyl sales link now alleged
A US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into the internal controls of Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank) focuses on how Chinese crime groups and drug traffickers used the Canadian bank to launder money from sales of the drug fentanyl in the US.
As our article points out, the link to fentanyl sales is new, while the lender’s anti-money-laundering practices have been under scrutiny for years.
#9: Waking up to the reality of AI: What to expect in 2025
From finance and technology to arts and entertainment, from healthcare to agriculture, from academia to research and intelligence – everyone is turning to artificial intelligence (AI). And for good reason. Experts believe “AI and new changes in cloud computing, etc, are going to change the way the world looks.” And naturally, firms, investors, governments and other stakeholders want to stay ahead in the race.
As the global AI race intensifies and billions are being invested in the technology, we look at where AI could take us in 2025.
#8: What does ‘prompt’ mean in communications monitoring and reporting?
In this article, we tackle this important question and assess the regulatory expectations around backlogs and the expected speed of reviews and disclosure of violations to authorities.
What we know: Firms, firm management and compliance teams are increasingly finding themselves under pressure from regulators to monitor not only traditional malfeasance such as market abuse, but also to conduct surveillance to track general conduct issues.
#7: UK’s FCA launches consultation on new PISCES private stock market
The Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) will allow shares in private companies to be bought and sold. This proposal for a new private stock market is set to “open the door to more opportunities for investors to take stakes in private companies,” said the FCA.
With many companies choosing to stay private for longer, there is increasing demand for investors to be able to trade shares in private companies more easily.
In a press statement, the FCA described PISCES as “a world-leading innovation in private markets” that “could provide opportunities for more diversified returns for investors.”
#6: Chase ‘free money glitch’ turns out to be the same old story
Viral TikTok video provides a new twist on check fraud.
Many new ideas turn out to be old ideas in new packaging, and this proved to be the case with what has entered folklore as the Chase free money glitch. A TikTok video that went viral, claiming to provide a way of getting “free money” from Chase bank, turned out to be just another check fraud scheme.
#5: Moody’s: Insurance losses from CrowdStrike outage will be driven by business interruption
The global outage revealed the broad risks posed by a single point of failure and the degree to which many segments of the economy are interconnected and interdependent; Moody’s compared it to supply-chain cyber attack.
Moody’s offers a helpful list of future considerations and key lessons for enterprises, cybersecurity teams, and the cyber insurance industry at large when it comes to testing, rollback mechanisms and more.
#4: SEC charges Drive Planning LLC and its CEO with fraud
A scheme that raised over $300m from more than 2,000 investors by promising 10% returns every three months led the SEC to file fraud charges.
The agency said the defendants did not have a business capable of generating the promised returns, and they instead used investor funds to make “Ponzi-like payments” to earlier investors.
#3: The Ripple effect: SEC files Notice of Appeal in case against Ripple
This lawsuit, which began in December 2020, has become a defining case for the entire cryptocurrency industry. Its outcome could set a significant precedent for how digital assets are regulated in the United States.
#2: RTX sets aside $1.24 billion to resolve probes involving bribery, export controls
A combined $959m has been set aside by RTX Corp, formerly known as Raytheon, as part of a deal with the US government to settle a criminal investigation into pricing for missile and defense services, as well as a separate corruption probe.
“In total, we expect to pay about $1 billion related to these matters this year and have incorporated that into our updated free cash flow outlook for the year,” the company noted in an earning call and related report.
The US weapons maker is one of the key players in the defense manufacturing sector supplying critical weaponry and the components for them in increasingly drawn out conflicts around the world.
#1: As Wells Fargo fires employees for mouse movers, let’s talk about surveillance
In May, San Francisco-based bank Wells Fargo fired over a dozen employees alleging that they were simulating keyboard activity to give the false impression they were at their desks.
And it’s quite reasonable that employers want their employees to be productive, wherever they work, especially a bank that has roughly 200,000 employees.
But let’s take a deeper dive into the effectiveness of this strategy and surveillance tools and strategies more generally.
