Compliance & Ethics

The Bundesbank has released the first volume of a multi-part book series examining the historical role of the Reichsbank, the Bank deutscher Länder, and the early Bundesbank during and after the Nazi era. While this is a historical and reputational governance initiative rather than a binding regulatory requirement, compliance teams should note the institution's continued emphasis on transparency, institutional accountability, and public record-keeping.

The Norway Financial Supervisory Authority has issued a warning referencing a prior CSSF (Luxembourg) alert concerning the website www.hautfortpartners.com, operated by an entity calling itself Hautfort Partners S.à r.l. This indicates the entity is not authorized to provide financial services in Luxembourg and may be targeting investors across multiple jurisdictions, including Norway, raising cross-border fraud and investor protection concerns.

The HKMA has issued updated guidance superseding its 2019 and 2021 circulars on remote customer on-boarding, requiring Authorized Institutions and Stored Value Facility licensees to strengthen identity authentication and identity matching controls in light of AI-driven impersonation, deepfake fraud, and mule-account risks. Firms must conduct a comprehensive review of their remote on-boarding systems and adopt a risk-based, tiered approach to customer due diligence, with ongoing recalibration to keep pace with evolving threats.

The Norway Financial Supervisory Authority has published a warning notice titled "Life Financial Time," cross-referencing an advisory originally issued by Spain's securities regulator, CNMV. The limited content suggests this relates to an unauthorized or unregistered entity potentially targeting investors, though specific details on the firm's activities are not provided in the source material. Compliance teams should treat this as a preliminary alert requiring further investigation before drawing firm conclusions.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has issued a warning that fraudsters are using the name and credentials of FCA-authorized firm Fortrade Limited to operate a "clone firm" scam, targeting consumers through a fraudulent website (fortradelimited.com). This alert is being circulated by the Norway Financial Supervisory Authority, indicating cross-border regulatory awareness and distribution of the warning to protect consumers in multiple jurisdictions.

The SEC has approved FINRA's proposed amendment to Rule 4515.01, eliminating the principal approval requirement for all investment adviser bulk order allocations regardless of when allocation instructions are received. This change, effective immediately upon approval, reduces operational burdens for member firms while relying on T+1 settlement infrastructure, Rule 15c6-2 allocation requirements, and existing fiduciary and anti-fraud provisions to maintain investor protections.

The Norway Financial Supervisory Authority has issued a warning identifying "Aseviaventure" as a cloned entity, originally flagged by Spain's CNMV, which is operating without proper authorization. Compliance teams should treat this as a boiler-room/clone-firm risk indicator and ensure this entity name is screened against client and counterparty records.