Austria’s Supreme Cartel Court has increased the fine against German construction machinery company Kiesel from €240,000 to €2.4 million for implementing two mergers before the law permitted it to do so, turning what had been a relatively modest penalty into one intended, quite deliberately, to be felt.
AUSTRAC has reduced good anti-money laundering compliance to five pieces of advice, and none of them is particularly exotic. Know which obligations apply to the business. Keep the regulator informed when basic company details change. Revisit the risks as the business changes. Make sure reports contain information somebody can actually use. Keep records good enough to explain the decisions made along the way.
Finland’s Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) has published updated principles on October 1 for determining the size of penalty payments and administrative fines. The principles themselves are not new. The authority published an earlier version in 2022, and the latest changes largely put greater precision around practices that have since become established.
The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition has imposed fines totaling approximately $89.7 million (CZK 1.942 billion) on four companies after finding that six cable manufacturers coordinated the calculation of a “metal surcharge” used in the pricing of telecommunications and power cables containing copper or aluminum. It is a record fine for the Office. The decision, announced Oct. 1, is not yet final, and the parties can appeal to the Chairman of the Office.
The EU's Anti-Money Laundering Authority said on October 1 that it has finalized three sets of regulatory technical standards covering customer due diligence, the treatment of business relationships and occasional transactions, and AML/CFT arrangements across corporate groups. The final drafts have been sent to the European Commission, putting them one step closer to becoming part of the rulebook that companies and professionals subject to the EU regime will have to follow.
Independence Blue Cross has agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle allegations that it kept Medicare money tied to diagnosis codes that its own medical-record reviews did not support. The Justice Department announced the settlement Wednesday, bringing a civil False Claims Act case against the Pennsylvania insurer to a close without a determination of liability. The allegations concern Independence Blue Cross, or IBX, and its Medicare Advantage business during payment years 2017 through 2021.
In recommendations submitted to the European Commission as part of its review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, ESMA called for tougher rules on crypto marketing, greater transparency over costs and new requirements for staking, lending and borrowing. It also wants stronger powers to confront unauthorized firms, fraudulent websites and services tied to stablecoins that do not comply with MiCA.
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