Compliance & Ethics

France’s data protection watchdog has once again flexed its regulatory muscle, imposing large fines on two global giants, Google and Shein, for failing to comply with rules governing the use of cookies and online advertising practices. The Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) announced on September 1 that it had fined Google €325 million ($357 million) and Shein €150 million ($165 million), underscoring its determination to rein in non-compliant tracking practices under its long-running enforcement plan.

The operators of Pornhub and a network of more than 100 adult websites are facing legal action from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the state of Utah, accused of deceiving consumers while profiting from some of the internet’s most exploitative content.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has fined Houston-based freight forwarder Fracht $1,610,775 after finding the company violated multiple sanctions programs tied to Venezuela and Iran. Regulators said the violations were egregious and not voluntarily self-disclosed, though Fracht ultimately cooperated and has since overhauled its compliance program.

One of the biggest players in Australia’s futures market has been hit with a $2.55 million (AUD 3.88 million) penalty after failing to stop a wave of suspicious trading orders in the electricity and wheat futures market. The Market Disciplinary Panel (MDP) imposed the fine on SocGen, following an ASIC investigation that found the firm breached market integrity rules by permitting two clients to place 33 suspicious orders between May 2023 and February 2024.

Australia’s competition watchdog has secured a major victory after the Full Federal Court dismissed appeals by BlueScope Steel Ltd and its former General Manager, Jason Ellis, in a landmark cartel case. The decision leaves in place the highest penalty ever imposed for a breach of Australia’s competition laws i.e., a $57.5 million fine against BlueScope, alongside a $500,000 penalty against Ellis.

The European Commission is sounding the alarm on compliance challenges at the EU’s borders, warning that customs checks are struggling to keep pace with the flood of goods entering through e-commerce channels. A new report released on August 29 highlights how non-compliant products, from unsafe electronics to environmentally hazardous items, continue slipping through, creating risks for both consumers and businesses that play by the rules.

On 28 August, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) reprimanded Deutsche Bank and imposed a $23.8 million fine after a series of investigations revealed regulatory breaches stretching back more than a decade. The problems ranged from sloppy fee processes to disclosure lapses that cut at the heart of market integrity.