Tag: ESG

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This Week in FCPA

Episode 284 – The Holmes Found Guilty Edition


Jay returns from a lengthy holiday assignment to join Tom to look at some of the week’s top compliance and ethics stories this week in the Holmes Found Guilty edition.
Stories

  1. Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty. The Verdict (WSJ), What does it mean for Silicon Valley? (NYT), What about the victims? (Bloomberg), Will Holmes serve any time? (Fortune)
  2. 2022 to be a critical year in ESG reporting. Mike Munro and Guido Van Druen in a CCI.
  3. Top D&O stories from 2021. Kevin LaCroix in D&O Diary. 
  4. Airbnb spanked over Cuba. Mengqi Sun in WSJ Risk & Compliance Journal.   
  5. MorganStanley fined $60MM over a data breach? Aaron Nicodemus in Compliance Week (sub req’d).
  6. China’s new ABC guidelines. Andrew Reeves and Rongxin Huang in the FCPA Blog.  
  7. The ‘G’ in ESG. Lawrence Heim in PracticalESG.
  8. Key areas for BOD oversight in 2022. Holly Gregory in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. 
  9. Audrey Harris joins AMI.
  10. Broadcat sold. Broadcat Press Release.

Podcasts 

  1. Want some fun? Join Tom and One Stone Creative co-founder Megan Dougherty to explore the full MCU. In their most recent posting, check out Episode 3, Iron Man.  
  2. In January on The Compliance Life, I visited Valerie Charles, a partner at StoneTurn. Val has one of the most interesting journeys in compliance. In Part 1, she discusses her academic background and early professional career. 
  3. The Compliance Podcast Network welcomes Professor Karen Woody and her new podcast, Classroom Insider. Karen interviews some of her students to tell insider trading history in this unique pod. Check out Episode 1, where they discuss the history of insider trading. In  Episode 2, the disclosure or abstain rule. Episode 3 will take up narrowing the scope of the disclose or abstain rule. 
  4. Mikhail Reider-Gordon returns in Lies, Spies & Corporate Crimes: The Wirecard Saga, with Season 2, Episode 2 The Vagabond Rapping At Your Door.
  5. Check out 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program returns, which runs from January 1 to January 31. Available on the Compliance Podcast Network, Megaphone, iTunes, and other top podcast platforms. 

Tom Fox is the Voice of Compliance and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.  

Categories
The ESG Report

ESG – From the Board to the Front Line with Dan Zitting


Dan Zitting, CEO of Galvanize (now Diligent), is back on this week’s episode of the ESG Report. He and Tom Fox check in about the progress of his company’s M&A with Diligent, reporting on ESG to the board, and ESG trends for 2022.

Becoming Diligent
Dan tells Tom how Galvanize’s M&A with Diligent is progressing. “We’ve had a big year,” he says. Galvanize being part of Diligent means that they can now bring a truly integrated GRC solution from the board to the front line. “We are working really hard on technology capability that brings what GRC professionals do directly into the boardroom,” Dan remarks. “…We’re creating the ability to say, ‘Hey, alongside that board book sits information dashboards and information and analytics about how other areas of governance and risk and compliance in the front line are working’.” Real-time reporting on ESG will help the board engage in governance more proactively, he comments. 
Tom asks how the acquisition strengthens Galvanize. We have the opportunity to elevate our work all the way to the boardroom, Dan responds. Also, Diligent’s global scale means that Galvanize now has access to more resources and a bigger client market. 
The Proactive Approach
What are some of the key changes you’ve seen in the GRC space, Tom asks Dan. 2021 has accelerated progress toward an integrated risk management approach, he replies. Global pressure to take ESG seriously has also spurred this on. Both Tom and Dan agree that companies need to be nimble enough to pivot in anticipation of rapid change. “Traditional approaches just don’t work,” Dan points out. “If the way we’re going to evaluate these events is by auditing past history or looking at how we complied with controls in the past, it’s just not good enough anymore.” The better, more proactive approach to risk management involves using leading indicators rather than historical auditing activity. He describes how an automated GRC platform can help companies achieve this goal. We encourage our clients to think about creating structures and systems rather than just focusing on the software as the solution, he tells Tom.
Reporting to the Board and ESG Trends
“Particularly on ESG topics, the board is looking for the answers to simple questions,” Dan advises. Keep your report to just 5 points and their relevant benchmarks. Currently, two hot topics boards want to know about are carbon emissions and gender diversity. Dan believes the conversation will expand to other issues in the coming years, and that we’ll see ESG becoming more important throughout the organization. “I think a lot of organizations are going to be setting up a sustainability function that will ultimately have responsibility for doing that kind of accounting. We should be concentrating on that and then in turn connecting it to standards and compliance programs which is exactly what we know how to do as GRC professionals,” he remarks.
Dan shares his view on ESG trends for 2022 and beyond. The rapidly increasing pay rate for GRC professionals is a sign of how important and necessary this role has become. Boards and audit committees are also asking more questions and looking for guidance on ESG. That’s a good indication of what’s to come, Dan says.
Resources
Dan Zitting on LinkedIn | Twitter
Diligent Institute

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This Week in FCPA

Episode 283 – the Tribute to Madden and Harry edition


With Jay on a holiday assignment, Tom is joined by Mike Volkov to look at some of the week’s top compliance and ethics stories this week in the Tribute to Madden and Harry edition.
Stories
1.     We lost two greats this week, one in sports and gaming and one from politics. John Madden and Harry Reid. Tom and Mike reflect.
2.     No poaching in the Defense Industry. Jay DeVecchio and Lisa Phelan in a MoFo Client Alert.
3.     What is a ‘Bump Up’ provision in an E&O policy. Barry Buchman and Michael Scanlon in D&O Diary.
4.     Reflections on 2021 in Compliance. Lisa Schor Babin in CCI.
5.     Should lawyers file SARs? Jason Morris in Compliance Week (sub req’d).
6.     Fraud in the taxi business? (This is my shocked face.) Matt Kelly in Radical Compliance.
7.     Making ESG 2nd nature in asset allocation. Sara Rosner and Jess Gaspar in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
8.     An app for ESG investment. Lawrence Heim in PracticalESG.
9.     Thoughts for the Board from 2021. Marty Lipton in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
10.  Tom and Mike look back at 2021 in compliance. Tom in FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog.
 Podcasts 
11.  Want some fun? Join Tom and One Stone Creative co-founder Megan Dougherty for an exploration of the full MCU. In their most recent posting, check out Episode 3, Iron Man.
12.  In December on The Compliance Life, I visit with Matt Silverman, Director of Trade Compliance at VIAVI. Matt is the first Trade Compliance Director I have hosted on TCL. In Part 1, Matt details his academic career and early professional life. In Part 2, Matt moves into trade compliance. In Part 3, Matt moves into the Director’s chair. In Episode 4, Matt looks down the road for trade compliance.
13.  The Compliance Podcast Network welcomes Professor Karen Woody and her new podcast, Classroom Insider. In this most unique pod, Karen interviews some of her student to tell the history of insider trading. Check out Episode 1 where they discuss the history of insider trading. In  Episode 2, the disclosure or abstain rule. On Episode 3, they will take up narrowing the scope of the disclose or abstain rule.
14.  On EMBARGOED!, Brian and Tim run through a Lightning Round-style discussion of the top economic sanctions and export controls stories of 2021.
15.  Looking to enhance your compliance program? Check out 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program returns, which runs for the month of January, from January 1 to January 31. Available on the Compliance Podcast Network, Megaphone, iTunes, and all other top podcast platforms.
Tom Fox is the Voice of Compliance and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Mike Volkov is the founder of the Volkov Law Group and can be reached at mvolkov@volkovlaw.com.

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Compliance Into the Weeds

Year End Review, Part 2


Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast which takes a deep dive into a compliance related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. On Tuesday, Matt and Tom began a special two-part year-end review of six topics which they saw as significant in 2021 and believe will be so into 2022 as well. They looked at SPACs, the Robinhood/GameStop phenomena and the new hybrid working environment and what is means for the compliance professional. Today in Part 2 we consider the Biden Administration’s Strategy on Countering Corruption, in conjunction with DAG Lisa Monaco’s speech on the refocus of the Department of Justice on FCPA enforcement and other white collar prosecutions, the continuing evolution of ransomware attacks and ESG in 2021 and beyond.
Resources
Matt in Radical Compliance
Tom in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog
 

Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

John Katsos – Due Diligence in Conflict Zones


In this episode of the FCPA Compliance Report, I visit with John Katsos, Assistant Professor and Scholar at American University of Sharjah. John has researched and performed due diligence in conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa. He was part of a research team that published a series in the Big Idea section of the Harvard Business Review entitled Preparing for the Era of Uncertainty, which is a must read for every compliance professional. He brings a unique perspective to a variety of compliance topics. Highlights of this podcast include:

  1. Academic and professional background.
  2. Why due diligence in conflict zones so difficult?
  3. What are some of the important differences in performing DD in conflict zones?
  4. What are some keys to successfully performing DD in conflict zones?
  5. Key lessons you observed on DD in Cyprus?
  6. Where did you come up with the idea for this series of articles, Preparing for the Era of Uncertainty?
  7. A discussion of each article in the series.?
  8. What is it like teaching anti-corruption and other forms of compliance outside the US?
  9. How do you see your work tying into a broader ESG discussion?
  10. How does climate change and migration across borders influence your thinking?

Resources
Preparing for the Era of Uncertainty-Harvard Business Review
John Katsos website, including some great research and papers
John Katsos LinkedIn profile

Categories
This Week in FCPA

Episode 282 – The Naughty List Edition


With Jay on a holiday assignment, Tom is joined by Professor Karen Woody to look at some of the week’s top compliance and ethics stories this week in the Naughty List edition.
Stories

  1. JPMorgan tagged $200MM for failures in electronic record keeping. Tom in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog. Matt Kelly in Radical Compliance. Tom and Matt in Compliance into the Weeds.  
  2. Nikola was fined $125MM for the former CEO’s imprudent tweets. Tom in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog. Matt Kelly in Radical Compliance. Jaclyn Jaeger in Compliance Week. (sub req’d).
  3. SOX 20 years later. Michael Peregrine looks back at the upcoming 20th anniversary of Sarbanes-Oxley in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. 
  4. France is updating its ABC regime. Frederick Davis in GAB.   
  5. Another Unaoil defendant appeals conviction based upon SFO misconduct. Dylan Tokar in WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal.
  6. What happened to FCPA Compliance in 2021? Dick Cassin explores in the FCPA Blog.  
  7. The story of internal controls and Netflix? Jonathan Marks in BakerTilly.  
  8. Vietnam imposes a 14-year sentence for wildlife trafficking. Jon Rusch in Dipping Through Geometries. 
  9. Lawyers and ESG. Lawrence Heim in PracticalESG. 
  10. Prioritizing your policy updates. David Banks in Risk and Compliance Matters.

Podcasts and Events

  1. Want some fun over the holidays? Join Tom and One Stone Creative co-founder Megan Dougherty to explore the full MCU. In Episode 1, Captain America. In Episode 2, Captain Marvel. Next week in Episode 3, Iron Man.  
  2. In December on The Compliance Life, I visited with Matt Silverman, Director of Trade Compliance at VIAVI. Matt is the first Trade Compliance Director I have hosted on TCL. In Part 1, Matt details his academic career and early professional life. In Part 2, Matt moves into trade compliance. In Part 3, Matt moves into the Director’s chair. 
  3. The Compliance Podcast Network welcomes Professor Karen Woody and her new podcast, Classroom Insider. In this unique pod, Karen interviews some of her students to tell them the history of insider trading. Check out Episode 1 on  Episode 2, the disclosure or abstain rule. In Episode 3 (premiering Dec. 31), they will take up narrowing the scope of the disclose or abstain rule. 
  4. The Shout Outs and Rants of Everything Compliance gets its own iTunes show. Everything Compliance has its first-year end review episode. 
  5. On Hidden Traffic, Gwen Hassan hosts Andrew Wallis, head of Unseen UK.

Tom Fox is the Voice of Compliance and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Karen Woody is a Professor of Law at Washington and Lee. She can be reached at kwoody@wlu.edu. 

Categories
The ESG Report

ESG-Risk, Opportunity and Positive Impact with Cécilia Fellouse-Guenkel


 
Cécilia Fellouse-Guenkel is a well-known compliance practitioner in France. She and Tom Fox have worked together in live as well as virtual conferences. She moved into the compliance industry when she joined a medical device company in the US. Since then, she says, compliance has been her passion. She eventually opened her own compliance consulting business, called Compliance For Good. The name of her company signifies that compliance is not only for the greater good, but for the long term. She and Tom talk about the evolution of ESG and how it has a positive impact on companies as well as the wider community.
 

 
Evolution of ESG
Tom asks, “How have you seen ESG evolve in Europe and the EU over the past few years?” Cécilia responds that ESG is a broad notion, many aspects of which have existed for quite some time. “I guess what’s changed now with ESG is on the one hand, how the investment and the financial world have been behaving recently,” she remarks. ESG-oriented investments have increased to the tune of US$30 trillion in recent times. Financial institutions are now willing to put a price tag on companies’ ESG efforts based on KPIs, which is an area compliance professionals are experts in. She discusses the strict ESG regulations in France and the EU – particularly the Duty of Care Act and the SFDR mandates respectively – which she says are catapulting ESG into the limelight as a critical issue for companies and compliance professionals. She and Tom talk about the impact on companies’ supply chain and the disquiet some stakeholders feel about these new regulations because of the presumption of responsibility now placed on businesses. 
 
A Holistic Conversation
What advice are you giving your clients about ESG, Tom asks Cécilia. Companies come to her with questions about the Duty of Care law and other ESG regulations. “What I love the most is to make it a more holistic conversation, a global conversation,” she tells Tom. She shows her clients how they can achieve both an impact analysis and Duty of Care plan at the same time. “What I like about ESG is that it’s a shift for compliance people going from mostly looking at the risks … ESG is also looking at the positive aspects. So it’s really risk, opportunity and positive impact,” Cécilia comments. The conversation immediately becomes more strategic, efficient and helpful when you take this perspective, she adds. Boards also are more willing to listen. She emphasizes that this type of holistic approach is not new to compliance officers: another reason they are in a good position to lead the conversation around ESG.
 
Value of Compliance in ESG
A recent report by McKinsey explains the impact ESG has on a company’s profitability, including lower risk of sanctions, higher employee retention, and attracting potential talent. Cécilia says that compliance professionals should make sure they’re part of the conversation. She shares practical advice from two books. Tom comments that some compliance professionals don’t feel as comfortable with the E of ESG, as they believe they lack technical skills in that area. He asks Cécilia to share her thoughts on the subject. Even though the environmental aspect is a technical area, she remarks, compliance officers can still offer their expertise, such as in monitoring and standardizing KPIs. Another key area where compliance has valuable expertise is in third-party risk management.
 
ESG Into the Future
Cécilia wants compliance professionals to jump on the ESG train in the future. “It’s where we belong,” she tells Tom, “in the strategic sphere and the strategic role of ethics and compliance.” She likes Allison Taylor’s idea of the CCO as the Chief Integrity Officer. She is also hoping for more standard KPIs to move the industry forward. 
 
Resources
Cécilia Fellouse-Guenkel on LinkedIn 
 

Categories
This Week in FCPA

Episode 281 – the Bags of Cash edition


Tom takes a solo turn to look at some of the week’s top compliance and ethics stories this week in the Bags of Cash edition.

Stories

1.     Why subcontractors continue to cause FCPA grief. Dick Cassin the FCPA Blog.
2.     More on the Strategy on Countering Corruption. Tom takes a deep dive in a 5-part blog post series in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog. Mike Volkov in Corruption Crime and Compliance.
3.     Neil Hodge says non-US companies should beware in Compliance Week. (sub req’d).
4.     What next Brazilian President must do re: ABC.  Marcelo Cerqueira in GAB.
5.     Yet another son of ex-Panamanian President pleads guilty. Rick Vanderford in WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal.
6.     NatWest took bags of cash for deposits. $341MM in fines later.  Dylan Tokar in WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal.
7.     How CCOs use guidance from DOJ? Matt Kelly in Radical Compliance.
8.     Should you fall on your sword? Calvin London in CCI.
9.     Sustainability not universal. Lawrence Heim in PracticalESG.
10.  McDonalds claws back CEO severance. Heather Haddon in WSJ.

 Podcasts and Events

11.  Are you exasperated? Then check, F*ing Argentina. In this podcast series co-hosts Tom Fox and Gregg Greenberg, author of F*ing Argentina explore the current American psyche of being overworked, over leveraged, overtired and overwhelmed. Find out about modern America’s exasperation with well…exasperation. In our final episode, we wrap up what we learned from the series.
12.  In November on The Compliance Life, I visit with Matt Silverman, Director of Trade Compliance at VIAVI. Matt is the first Trade Compliance Director I have hosted on TCL. In Part 1, Matt details his academic career and early professional life. In Part 2, Matt moves into trade compliance.
13.  The Compliance Podcast Network welcomes Professor Karen Woody and her new podcast, Classroom Insider. In this most unique pod, Karen interviews some of her student to tell the history of insider trading. Check out Episode 2, the disclosure or abstain rule.
14.  The Shout Outs and Rants of Everything Compliance gets its own iTunes show. Everything Compliance has its first-year end review episode.
15.  On Hidden Traffic, Gwen Hassan hosts Andrew Wallis, head of Unseen UK.
Tom Fox is the Voice of Compliance and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
Everything Compliance

Episode 91, the Year End Review Edition


Welcome to the only roundtable podcast in compliance. The entire gang was also thrilled to be honored by W3 as a top talk show in podcasting. In this episode, we have the sextet of Karen Woody, Jonathan Armstrong, Matt Kelly, Jonathan Marks, and Jay Rosen, with host Tom Fox also weighing in on this episode. We also discuss our favorite story of 2021. We end with a veritable mélange of shouts outs and rants.

1. Karen Woody reviews the increase in SEC enforcement that the regulators have told us throughout the year that is coming. Karen shouts out to starting early Emmy buzz for Ted Lasso.

2. Jay Rosen reviews the Activision imbroglio from the missteps of the CCO to the disseminations of the CEO. Rosen shouts out to civility.

3. Matt Kelly reviews the latest iteration of ransomware attacks and contrasts it with data privacy breaches from the past. Kelly shouts out to the NJ sandwich shop Hometown International, which with $35K in annual sales resulting in a $100MM market cap evaluation.

4. Jonathan Armstrong goes back to consider the long running soap opera, sage and story that is Carlos Ghosn and Nissan. Armstrong shouts out to who show true leadership in a crisis and the Spirit of Christmas.

5. Jonathan Marks reviews the increase Caremark duties for Boards of Directors coming out of the Delaware courts. Marks expands on his rant about Hall of Fame horse trainer Bob Blaffert.

6. Tom Fox reviews the year in ESG and why compliance is the most well-suited corporate function to lead a corporate ESG effort. shouts out to John Lee Dumas, who as a college senior on 9/11, knew that night he was going to war, and to all the men and women who served in combat in America’s 20-year war in Iraq and Afghanistan.   

The members of the Everything Compliance are:
•       Jay Rosen– Jay is Vice President, Business Development Corporate Monitoring at Affiliated Monitors. Rosen can be reached at JRosen@affiliatedmonitors.com
•       Karen Woody – One of the top academic experts on the SEC. Woody can be reached at kwoody@wlu.edu
•       Matt Kelly – Founder and CEO of Radical Compliance. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@radicalcompliance.com
•       Jonathan Armstrong –is our UK colleague, who is an experienced data privacy/data protection lawyer with Cordery in London. Armstrong can be reached at jonathan.armstrong@corderycompliance.com
•       Jonathan Marks is Partner, Firm Practice Leader – Global Forensic, Compliance & Integrity Services at Baker Tilly. Marks can be reached at jonathan.marks@bakertilly.com
The host and producer, ranter (and sometime panelist) of Everything Compliance is Tom Fox the Voice of Compliance. He can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Everything Compliance is a part of the Compliance Podcast Network.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

December 16, 2021 Happy Birthday Michele Edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Houston Democratic leaders under scrutiny for corruption. (Local 12)
  • Tackling corruption critical for sustainable development. (UN News)
  • DO ABC laws undercut US strategy on immigration? (LATimes)
  • Key findings from the Pandora Papers. (WaPo)