Compliance & Ethics

FCA Moves to Streamline Insurance Rules While Keeping Customer Protections Intact

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed a package of reforms designed to simplify insurance regulation, cut compliance costs, and give firms more flexibility, without weakening protections for smaller commercial customers.

Italian Regulator Probes Watch Giants Over Suspected Price-Fixing

Italy’s competition watchdog is turning up the pressure on two of the biggest names in global watchmaking. Citizen and Swatch now find themselves at the center of a high-stakes antitrust probe into whether they’ve been quietly calling the shots on retail pricing and punishing stores that don’t play along.

Religious Channel Penalized After Repeated Breaches of Broadcasting Rules

A religious channel that told viewers unlicensed products and prayerful outreach could fix everything from chronic illness to financial distress has been handed a £375,000 penalty by Ofcom. The regulator confirmed on 9 December 2025 that The Word Network repeatedly breached broadcasting rules, and in some cases did so even after earlier investigations had put the channel on notice.

U.S. Treasury Eyes New Power to Steer Anti-Money-Laundering Enforcement

The Treasury Department is positioning itself to take a more commanding role in how the U.S. fights illicit finance, with a draft proposal that could reshape the enforcement of anti-money-laundering (AML) rules across the banking system.

Spain’s Competition Regulator Refreshes Its Compliance Benchmark

The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) of Spain has opened a public consultation to update its widely used “Guide to Compliance Programs in Relation to Competition Law.” First rolled out in 2020, the document quickly became a go-to reference for companies designing and evaluating internal controls to prevent antitrust violations.

Tower Ordered To Pay $7 Million For Misleading Customers On Discounts

General insurer Tower has been ordered to pay a $7 million (NZ$11.8 million) penalty after the company overstated the value of its multi-policy discount and overcharged tens of thousands of customers for years.

EU Probes Google’s AI Content Practices Amid Competition Concerns

The European Commission has kicked off a formal antitrust investigation into whether Google is abusing its market power by tapping into online content, from news publishers to YouTube creators, to fuel its artificial intelligence services without fair terms or compensation.