Week InReview | Anti-money laundering: On the notion of relying on others to carry out AML functions | OFR cautions against complacency | SEC launches ReTIRE initiative | IAIS meets in public for the first time | Binge reading disorder
Friday, June 26, 2015
Quote of the week: murky shoals
Relying on others to carry out AML functions
'It didn't happen. If it happened, I didn't do it. If I did it, the Devil made me do it.' We need to add to this litany, the following: 'The Devil promised me, sincerely, he would do it for me, but he didn't.'"

Robert M. Axelrod
Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics
OFR says stability risk is 'moderate'
But cautions against complacency
(Jun 24) While 'overall risks to financial stability remain moderate,' regulators should remain 'vigilant about emerging threats,' the Office of Financial Research says in their latest biennial check of threats to the system. 'The current moderate level of threats to financial stability should not be cause for complacency,' OFR Director Richard Berner, said in a statement. OFR is also releasing a web-based monitor, marking the first time it has made public an interactive tool for visualizing data related to financial stability. Current OFR concerns include:
  • Increased risk taking amid 'persistently low interest rates'
  • 'Fragile and fragmented market liquidity in some securities markets'
  • Shift of financial activity outside the banking system
SEC launches ReTIRE initiative
Aims at firms that sell retirement-based products
(Jun 22) The Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) is launching a multi-year initiative to focus on registrants that market products or services to retail investors saving for retirement. The Retirement-Targeted Industry Reviews and Examinations - ReTIRE - initiative is consistent with the examination priorities announced earlier this year.
IAIS holds 8th annual global seminar in Macau
Open to the public for the first time
(Jun 24) More than 200 members and stakeholders attended the International Association of Insurance Supervisors 8th annual Global Seminar in Macau, open to the public for the first time and available via conference call. The program included dialogues on major IAIS activities such as identifying global systemically important insurers (G-SIIs), Insurance Core Principle (ICP) revisions, development of its Common Framework (ComFrame) relating to the supervisors of internationally active insurance groups, the development of a global Insurance Capital Standard (ICS), implementing IAIS supervisory material, financial stability and disaster risk. 

NOTE: (Jun 25) The development of a global ICS will probably take until 2017, Felix Hufeld, chairman of the executive committee of the IAIS said at a conference in Frankfurt. The second version of the standards is now planned for 2019. IAIS previously planned for first version in 2016 and second in 2018.
Binge reading disorder
Hand-curated, chosen with love
  • The trip back home often seems to go by faster -- but why? (LA Times)
  • Big Economic Discovery! Booms Might Cause Busts (Bloomberg View)
  • Pixar's Mood Master: Can Pete Docter's new movie change the way viewers think about their emotions? (The Atlantic)
  • World view: incredible images of the Earth from above (The Guardian)
  • The $5 Billion Battle for the American Dinner Plate (Fast Company)
Transparency.
Inclusiveness.
Consensus.