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Compliance Into the Weeds

Compliance into the Weeds: Scathing Report on Culture at The FDIC

The award-winning Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast that takes a deep dive into a compliance-related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. Looking for some hard-hitting insights on compliance? Look no further than Compliance into the Weeds!

In this episode, Tom and Matt look at the absolutely scathing report issued by the law firm Cleary Gottlieb on the toxic culture of harassment and abuse at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

A recent scandal has been unveiled in the U.S. banking sector, spotlighting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). A report has unveiled a toxic corporate culture riddled with instances of harassment, whistleblower retaliation, and poor leadership under Chairman Martin Gruenberg.

Fox, viewing the scandal as a pivotal moment, emphasizes the need for accountability and radical change within the organization, particularly in addressing the issues revealed in the report. Despite the daunting challenges, Fox maintains a level of optimism, believing that with the right management and leadership changes, the FDIC can rectify its corporate culture.

Kelly recognizes the deep-seated cultural issues brought to light by the report, nonetheless, he believes that due to the FDIC’s relatively small size, with the right leadership and cultural shifts, it is possible to turn the organization around. Both experts’ perspectives are rooted in their understanding of corporate culture and governance, and their beliefs in the power of effective leadership and cultural change.

Key Highlights:

  • Toxic Culture Exposed in FDIC Report
  • Ethical Culture Assessment in Banking Regulation Systems
  • Toxic Culture: Mismanagement & Whistleblower Retaliation
  • Structure and Toxic Corporate Environment
  • Transformative Potential within the FDIC

Resources:

Matt Kelly on Radical Compliance

Tom 

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Everything Compliance - Shout Outs and Rants

Everything Compliance – Episode 126, Shout Outs and Rants – Corporate Governance Edition

Welcome to the only roundtable podcast in compliance as we celebrate our second century of shows. In this episode, we have the quartet of, Jonathan Armstrong, Matt Kelly, Karen Woody, and guest Kristy Grant-Hart; all hosted by Tom Fox, joining us on this episode of our fan-fav Shout Outs and Rants section.

1. Matt Kelly shouts out to Congress for doing something right in its expulsion of George Santos.

2. Karen Woody shouts out to Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Justice of the US Supreme Court.

3. Tom Fox shouts out to John Reed Stark for being the first voice that crypt was a fraud and cryptocurrency exchanges were being used for criminal activity.

4. Jonathan Armstrong shouts out to the rescue workers who saved victims of the Boscastle Flood.

5. Guest Kristy Grant-Hart shouts out to Congress to require an investigation of the FDIC after the WSJ broke the story of widespread sexual harassment at the agency.

6. Jonathan Marks shouts out to Charlie Jeffers and his Lego initiative, Pass the Bricks

The members of the Everything Compliance are:

•       Jay Rosen– Jay is Vice President of 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 can be reached at jtmarks@gmail.com.

•       Special Guest Kristy Grant-Hart is the founder of Spark Consulting.

The host and producer, ranter (and sometimes 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.

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10 For 10

10 For 10: Top Compliance Stories For The Week Ending November 18, 2023

Welcome to 10 For 10, the podcast that brings you the week’s Top 10 compliance stories in one podcast each week. Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings to you, the compliance professional, the compliance stories you need to be aware of to end your busy week. Sit back, and in 10 minutes, hear about the stories every compliance professional should be aware of from the prior week. Every Saturday, 10 For 10 highlights the most important news, insights, and analysis for compliance professionals, all curated by the Voice of Compliance, Tom Fox. Get your weekly filling of compliance stories with 10 for 10, a podcast produced by the Compliance Podcast Network.

  • Corruption in lithium mining in Africa.   (Inside Climate News)
  • The State of Texas moves to anti-business.  (Bloomberg)
  • The legal baggage at Fox News awaiting Lachlan. (FT)
  • 2 sexual harassment claims per week at McDonalds UK (TT)
  • Can Barclay’s move beyond scandal (and Jes Staley)? (FT)
  • Chinese corruption in Nepal? (NYT)
  • FDIC hires a law firm to investigate allegations of a toxic workplace. (FT)
  • The law firm said it didn’t know the partner was living with Judge. (Reuters)
  • Matt Kelly declares Supreme Court Code of Ethics is broken (already).  (Radical Compliance)
  • Safe for businesses to return to China? (NYT)

You can check out the Daily Compliance News for four curated compliance and ethics-related stories each day, here.

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Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: November 17, 2023 – The Broken Code Edition

Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen in to the Daily Compliance News. all from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world: compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.

Stories we are following in today’s edition:

  • The top really does set the tone.  (WSJ)
  • Matt Kelly declares SCt Code of Ethics is broken (already). (Radical Compliance)
  • Is it safe for businesses to return to China? (NYT)
  • Who needs a lawyer? (Reuters)
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Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: November 14, 2023 – The Supreme Court Edition

Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance brings you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen to the Daily Compliance News. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.

Stories we are following in today’s edition:

  • The Supreme Court issued its first-ever Ethics Code. (WSJ)
  • Chinese corruption in Nepal? (NYT)
  • The FDIC hires a law firm to investigate allegations of a toxic workplace. (FT)
  • The law firm said it didn’t know the partner was living with the judge. (Reuters)

 

Categories
10 For 10

10 For 10: Top Compliance Stories For the Week Ending November 4, 2023

Welcome to 10 For 10, the podcast that brings you the week’s Top 10 compliance stories in one podcast each week. Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance brings to you, the compliance professional, the compliance stories you need to be aware of to end your busy week. Sit back, and in 10 minutes hear about the stories every compliance professional should be aware of from the prior week. Every Saturday, 10 For 10 highlights the most important news, insights, and analysis for the compliance professional, all curated by the Voice of Compliance, Tom Fox. Get your weekly filling of compliance stories with 10 for 10, a podcast produced by the Compliance Podcast Network.

  • Altice USA says corruption probe will have ‘no material impact’ on business. (Bloomberg)
  • Costco is in trouble for stocking products produced by forced labor. (WSJ)
  • FDIC probing former First Republic officers. (Reuters)
  • Big 10 coaches are livid over UM football cheating. (ESPN)
  • France wants an anti-corruption commission with teeth. (Politico)
  • Companies are still struggling with communications compliance. (WSJ)
  • Biden Administration releases statement on AI. (FT)
  • Is crypto financing terrorism? (NYT)
  • Suits against A&F begin. (WSJ)
  • SBF was found guilty. (WSJ)

You can check out the Daily Compliance News for four curated compliance and ethics-related stories each day, here.

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Daily Compliance News

Daily Compliance News: November 3, 2023 – The No Material Impact Edition

Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy morning coffee, and listen to the Daily Compliance News. All from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, we consider four stories from the business world: compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.

  • Altice USA says the corruption probe will have ‘no material impact’ on business. (Bloomberg)
  • Costco is in trouble for stocking products produced by forced labor. (WSJ)
  • The FDIC is probing former First Republic officers. (Reuters)
  • Big 10 coaches are livid over UM football cheating. (ESPN)
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Compliance Into the Weeds

SVB Failure – Lessons for Compliance

The award winning, 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. In this episode, Matt and I continue our exploration of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and take a deeper dive into the compliance angles. Silicon Valley Bank had taken some big risks which led to depositors having a near-death experience, shareholders losing all their money, and taxpayers ultimately supporting the bank’s bailout. Despite the auditors giving an anodyne report on the bank’s risk management, the board, management and regulators all missed the big strategic risks. As a result, the bank collapsed, leaving Matt to question whether stakeholders were given the right assurance on the right things.

Key Highlights

·      What risk management strategies did SVB senior management and Board miss or ignore that could have prevented the financial disaster?

·      Why did SVB’s management decline to pursue improvements to their risk management practices after being warned by BlackRock consultants?

·      Did regulators miss the red flags raised by the San Francisco Fed examiners 18 months before the collapse of SVB?

Notable Quotes:

1.     “We should remember that really, the auditors’ report is going to give assurance on two points: Number one, is there a risk of material misstatement in the financial statements? And number two, does the audit firm have any substantial doubt about the organization’s ability to continue as a going concern for roughly the next twelve months or so? That’s how long it is. But it’s those two things.”

2.     “When you have Elizabeth Warren and conservatives both raising hell at the same time, it’s a valid issue to go and look at then because that does not happen too often.”

3.    “It’s like nobody had thought about this when really once we rolled back DoddFrank protections and supervisory constraints specifically for mid-sized banks, which Republicans pushed through in 2018, once that happened, that became the systemic risk that regulators had to think about.”

4.    “Everybody kind of sort of knew there was a problem, but a whole lot of finger pointing and not enough planning and assurance and communication to the public at large and to investors.”

 Resources

Matt  on LinkedIn

Matt on Radical Compliance

Tom on LinkedIn

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Compliance Into the Weeds

Beneath the Bailout: The Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

The award-winning, Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast that takes a deep dive into a compliance-related topic, literally going into the weeds to explore a subject. In this episode, Matt and I explore the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SBV) and its outcomes. We discuss the consequences if the Federal government fails to bail out Signature Bank in New York and Silicon Valley Bank. The Dodd-Frank Act is examined, and noting that the SBV Chief Risk Officer left 8 months ago and was never replaced is a huge red flag. Will this event cause the Federal Reserve will pause interest rate hikes? Why did Libertarians from the tech industry scream for bailouts? Tom and Matt expertly unpack the complex details within the industry and provide insight and analysis into this relevant and timely industry topic.

 Key Highlights

The Impact of Silicon Bank and SBV’s Failures on the Banking Industry [02:01]

Implications of Unsold Silicon Valley Bank Assets on Taxpayers [05:04]

Challenge of Businesses Dealing with Employee Benefits under Federal Government Regulations [09:04]

Effects of Changes to the Dodd-Frank Act on Midsized Banks [12:54]

The Impact of Regulatory Ease on Business Failures [16:47]

The Reasons Behind Silicon Valley Bank’s Chief Risk Officer Quitting [20:53]

The Impact of Social Media on Interest Rate Decisions by the Federal Reserve [24:52]

 Notable Quotes:

1.     “So those loans brought in maybe 2 or 3 percent interest, but SVP had to pay out interest rates that might be more at 4 percent. That difference undermined the capital structure and the balance sheet of SVB until people started getting skittish, and then they said, Maybe I should pull my money out, which made the bank even more weak, so people got even more skittish.”

2.     “The big issue, which is why the business customer angle is important, is that under FDIC rules, a bank’s deposits are insured up to 250,000 dollars per account.”

3.     “Is it a business if you can never fail? This was not too big to fail. This was we are not going to let anybody fail.”

4.    ” You may not know where your key suppliers, customers, or key third parties are banking. Maybe you have that information. But does that mean you’re going to have to assess the financial health of those financial institutions of your customers? And know if they can pay you for your vendors or third-party suppliers. They can meet their payroll to deliver their services.”

 Resources

Matt  on LinkedIn

Tom on LinkedIn

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Compliance Kitchen

FDIC and 3rd Party Risks


The FDIC invites comments on proposed guidance to banking institutions on managing 3rd party relationships risks.  The Kitchen explores the timeline, applicability and what to comment on.