SEC pays more than $20m to whistleblowers in a week

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has awarded its latest whistleblower more than $4.1m for information relating to a securities law violation

The reward, issued yesterday by the US financial regulator, is the third in a week, as it paid more than $8m each to two whistleblowers on Thursday for their continuing assistance in providing information in an ongoing case. read more »

Chinese Corruption Case Highlights U.S. Crackdown on Bribery

A fallen former official who is adjudged a flight risk. Alleged dodgy dealings in rural Africa. Almost $3 million in bribes. A mystery Chinese tycoon and a billion-dollar Russian oil deal.

Hong Kong is rapt with attention over the case of Patrick Ho Chi-ping, the city's one-time Home Affairs secretary, a cabinet-level position. Ho stands charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, at times while standing in the halls of the United Nations. The Hong Konger has been denied bail, a judge ruling he is rich enough and has motive to flee. So for the time being Ho resides in a U.S. jail. His lawyer said he would appeal the decision. read more »

What's at Stake in the Fight Over the CFPB

It can be hard to fathom just how intertwined Americans’ lives are with the country’s financial industry. About 178 million Americans have at least one credit card, according to the Federal Reserve. Forty percent of adults under the age of 30 are paying off student loans. A record 107 million (43 percent) of adults have car loans. And about 80 percent of American adults have a credit score. The safety of the financial products that these hundreds of millions of Americans use fall under the purview of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Prior to the founding of the CFPB, disputes between individual customers and their banks could be daunting and expensive pursuits. The financial industry has never been known for its transparency or accessibility, and banks managed to sneak all types of dangerous, expensive, or exploitative provisions into the fine print of contracts on everything from credit-card applications to mortgages. The subprime-debt crisis highlights just how badly that can turn out for everyone. While state-level consumer protections existed and banks were regulated by entities such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the CFPB was the first federal regulator to take a critical look at such a wide variety of banking practices with an eye toward fairness and protection of consumers above all else. read more »