GRC Report Staff

Hong Kong SFC Fines Zheng Da Over AML & Trading Control Failures

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission has fined Zheng Da International Financial Holding approximately $899,000 (HK$7 million) and suspended one of its responsible officers after finding failures in the firm’s anti-money laundering controls, client monitoring and oversight of electronic trading systems.

EIOPA Cuts Reporting Burden as It Presses for Simpler EU Insurance Rules

EIOPA has cut quarterly reporting templates by 26% and annual templates by 30% for solo undertakings under the revised Solvency II Directive. For small and non-complex undertakings, the cuts run at 36% quarterly and 44% annually.

Poland Fines Pharmaceutical Wholesalers $235 Million Over Decade-Long Information Exchange

For more than a decade, companies controlling much of Poland’s wholesale medicines market exchanged sensitive commercial information that showed what individual pharmacies were buying from rival suppliers, how much they were paying and what terms they had been offered, according to Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, or UOKiK.

Saudi Arabia Tightens Audit Quality & Oversight Rules for CMA-Regulated Firms

For an accounting firm auditing companies under the supervision of Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority, an inspection will no longer necessarily end when the regulator leaves the room. The CMA Board has approved amendments to the Rules for Registering Auditors of Entities Subject to the Authority’s Supervision, tightening requirements around professional qualifications, quality management, regulatory inspections and transparency. The amendments take effect from the date of their publication.

ICO Approves UK GDPR Code for Information Sharing Across Welsh Public Services

More than 1,000 organizations in Wales already work under the Wales Accord on the Sharing of Personal Information. What changes now is the footing beneath that work. WASPI has launched its UK GDPR Code of Conduct for Information Sharing Protocols, an Article 40 Code designed to give organizations a consistent framework for sharing personal information across health, education, social care, safeguarding, and other public services.

EU Anti-Greenwashing Rules Take Effect, Tightening Standards for Environmental Claims

New consumer protection rules against greenwashing began applying on September 27, bringing into force a set of restrictions that reach directly into the words, labels and environmental promises businesses place in front of consumers. Directive (EU) 2024/825, adopted in February 2024, amends the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and Consumer Rights Directive. Member States had until March 27, 2026, to transpose it into national law. Those measures have now entered into application.

Finland’s Financial Regulator Backs Simpler Rules While Warning Against Weaker Safeguards

Finland’s financial regulator sees room to make the rulebook simpler. What it does not see is a reason to surrender the resilience that has allowed the country’s financial sector to withstand years of economic and market uncertainty.