Compliance & Ethics

2024 was a year of growing momentum for the French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL), as the watchdog took significant steps to ensure that businesses comply with data protection laws. With fines, compliance orders, and reprimands on the rise, the CNIL made it clear that GDPR violations would no longer go unchecked. The result? A year of record-breaking action in data privacy enforcement.

In a settlement with FINRA, Apex Clearing Corporation, a Dallas-based firm that provides clearing services for introducing broker-dealers, is paying a $3.2 million fine after being found in violation of securities lending regulations. While financial penalties are common in the industry, this case tells a much bigger story about trust, transparency, and accountability—issues that are increasingly at the heart of how financial services firms do business.

For a company that prides itself on transparency, Wise just got caught with its hands in the cookie jar. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered the international remittance giant to shell out nearly $2.5 million in penalties for misleading customers about fees and failing to provide legally required disclosures. That total includes $450,000 in reimbursements to harmed consumers and a hefty $2.025 million fine.

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday that it is suing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to block its proposed $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, a rival provider of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology. HPE and Juniper are the second and third-largest enterprise-grade WLAN providers in the U.S.

Regulators are watching, and they’re not impressed. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has just dropped its latest annual report on sanctions under the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD), and enforcement isn’t slowing down—it’s accelerating.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has handed down a default judgment against a network of offshore entities and individuals behind a massive binary options fraud scheme. The total financial penalty reaches a staggering $451 million in restitution and civil penalties. And for those involved? It’s a permanent ban from future trading in U.S. markets.

If you’ve been navigating the ever-evolving world of financial regulations, you know that deadlines can be a bit of a pressure cooker. Well, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have decided to offer a bit of a breather. In a welcome move, they’ve extended the compliance date for the amended Form PF, originally due on March 12, 2025, by three months to June 12, 2025.