NovaFin Consulting

Are your New Year’s resolutions already suing for breach of contract? NovaFin Consulting may not be able to help with your weight loss goals, or your ambition to wake at 6am to meditate with the sunrise, but we can help if one of your resolutions was to learn more about fraud! Last year, ACAMS launched its Certified Anti-Fraud Specialist certification (CAFS) which we highly recommend.?And yes, we're biased as we were involved in the industry working group – along with some incredible subject matter experts – that helped build the content and launch the programme. CAFS certification covers fraud prevention, detection, and response including fraud investigations, analytics, and technology addressing the challenges faced by banks and other financial institutions. You can find out more here: https://lnkd.in/eUiSnzQn And if you'd like to hear more about how NovaFin Consulting can help you and your firm, please reach out. Wishing you a healthy, prosperous, and fraud-free 2025! Image credit: Tima Miroshnichenko #fraudprevention | #fraud | #riskmanagement | Emma Parry

According to the FCA, insider trading fell to a 5 year low in 2023. However, suspicious stock market moves still occurred before 30% of UK takeover announcements. The article suggests that insider dealers may be using different techniques to evade detection. However, we can't help but wonder if the large scale record keeping fines point to a larger issue across the industry, and whether controls are truly in place to detect market abuse of this nature ... ?? https://lnkd.in/eu3Nk9n8

Here’s a great story exemplifying why investment in network analytics must continue in the fight against money laundering & tax evasion. A coordinated sting by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bologna & Milan has dismantled a criminal gang, alleged to have evaded the payment of €113 million in VAT, while using a Chinese underground banking network for money laundering. The complex scheme was carried out through numerous ghost companies that imported hundreds of containers of clothing & accessories from China to Italy, using triangulations with Bulgaria & Greece, to hide the origin of the goods. The transfer of illicit funds was facilitated via shell companies & false invoices with money passing through numerous European countries, including Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Spain & the UK, before arriving in China.?Evidence shows that some of the money returned via banking to Italy, where the organisation invested it in legitimate commercial businesses. Substantial assets have been seized including - a shopping centre, 8 high-end cars & 5 Chinese restaurants. Link to article:?https://lnkd.in/eT3GC_aR) #financialcrime | #fraud | #regtech

The UK FCA has released its culture and non-financial misconduct report examining how firms detect and handle non-financial misconduct incidents (2021 - 2023) It’s a detailed report & well worth reading in full, but here are 5 key insights:? ? 1.?????The number of reported non-financial misconduct incidents increased over the 3 years surveyed.?However, as noted by the FCA ‘a high number of incidents does not necessarily suggest a worse environment – it may in fact be an indication of a healthy speak up culture, and may reflect size and scale of a firm’ 2.????The distribution of non-financial misconduct types varied by sector although bullying and harassment (26%) and discrimination (23%) were the most reported types of non-financial misconduct across all sectors 3.????Firms identified incidents through reactive routes such as grievances or similar formal processes (50%) and through alternative reporting routes such as whistleblowing. Firms also identified incidents through firm-led detection methods such as market surveillance 4.????Some relevant policies (eg. whistleblowing, disciplinary) were not in place at all firms surveyed 5.????Disciplinary or ‘other’ actions were taken in 43% of cases. In the remainder, there was a range of other outcomes (eg. cases not investigated or unable to conclude, not upheld, upheld with no other action, or investigations ongoing) The FCA has set-out the actions firms should be taking. Firms should discuss non-financial misconduct at senior management and board level and consider whether steps need to be taken to improve: ? their culture ? how they identify and manage risks ? how they address non-financial misconduct on an ongoing basis Firms should: ? enable employees to speak up about non-financial misconduct ? establish ways for employees to raise concerns, including formal processes for ? whistleblowing where these are not already in place #whistleblowing | #surveillance | #culture https://lnkd.in/eKRNgefN

Let’s be honest, call recording & email monitoring have been commonplace in firms for many, many years & certainly long before the advent of more sophisticated surveillance solutions.?The question is, do people behave better if they think, or indeed know, they are being monitored? In the first of a series with the awesome team at Global Relay, read my thoughts on surveillance, including my experiences where emails & transcripts ended up as evidence in court & on the public record ... #surveillance | #ecomms | #law | #marketabuse | #frontrunning | #fraud | #wirefraud | #conduct | #regtech | #regulatorycompliance | #trading | #fx | #cfds | NovaFin Consulting | #capitalmarkets