Butler, Pennsylvania-based Armstrong Group has agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle allegations of violating the False Claims Act in relation to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) High-Cost Program. The settlement, announced on Friday, July 12, 2024, resolves claims that the company knowingly submitted improper costs to inflate subsidies received from the federal Universal Service Fund (USF).
The Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) have levied combined fines of $135.6 million against Citigroup and its subsidiary Citibank for persistent deficiencies in risk management and internal controls.
Rite Aid Corporation and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay $121 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the settlement on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, marking a major enforcement action against one of the country's largest retail pharmacy chains.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken action against Fifth Third Bank for a series of illegal activities, resulting in $20 million in penalties and mandatory redress for approximately 35,000 affected consumers. The enforcement actions, announced on July 9, 2024, address two primary issues: forced auto insurance and the creation of unauthorized bank accounts.
In today's landscape of governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC), there's a prevalent but often misguided approach that begins with compliance rather than governance. If we were to parse the acronym logically, one might expect it to be CRG, or even Cr (intentionally lowercase), reflecting the common tendency where compliance takes precedence over governance and strategic performance considerations. This approach, while common, can lead to fragmented risk management efforts and overlooks the foundational role that governance plays in setting objectives and guiding risk mitigation strategies.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasized the necessity of seeking additional feedback on the controversial Basel III Endgame proposal during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday, according to a recent Reuters report. Powell stated that it is the "strongly held" view of the Fed board that further input is needed before finalizing the plan, which aims to overhaul how large banks assess risk and determine capital requirements.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently unveiled its Spring 2024 regulatory agenda, part of the government-wide Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. This agenda outlines the CFTC’s anticipated rulemakings for the upcoming year. While the agenda includes several noteworthy rulemaking matters, the exclusion of a key proposed rulemaking regarding the CFTC’s uncleared swap margin rules has sparked significant debate within the Commission.