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10
World Report - North America
JANUARY 2013
IIRoc proposes best practices to improve transparency and supervision
The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) recently issued a Guidance Notice for Comment regarding the use of business titles and financial designations.
The Notice identifies supervisory best practices that would improve transparency regarding the use of business titles and financial designations and associated services offered
by registrants of IIROC- regulated firms.
In 2012, IIROC conducted qualitative
research
involving investors and investor representatives in order to determine whether business titles and financial designations
investors’ decision-making process and expectations. This investor research built on IIROC’s previous quantitative
survey conducted amongst IIROC-
Baker & McKenzie Earns top Rating on HRc Foundation's corporate
Equality Index For the third consecutive year, Baker & McKenzie was named by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as one of the "Best Places to Work" in the United States for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. This notable distinction is in recognition of the Firm’s perfect score of 100 in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index.
“Baker & McKenzie is proud to be recognized as one of the Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality,” said Philip F. Suse, Baker & McKenzie’s North American Managing Partner. "We are pleased to share this honor with our many clients that also received a perfect score of 100, which I think speaks to our common commitment to fostering diversity in the workplace.”
Baker & McKenzie received a perfect score for all the
rating criteria measured in the survey, including inclusive equal employment opportunity policies, equal employment benefits, organizational
LGBT
competency, evidence of a commitment to equality and responsible citizenship.
“This recognition from the HRC underscores the Firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion – not only in the area of LGBT diversity but across many dimensions of diversity,” said Floyd Mills, Baker & McKenzie’s Director of Diversity for North America.
Earlier this year, the Firm was named one the Best Law Firms for Women by the National Association for Female Executives and Flex-Time Lawyers.
In
addition, MultiCultural Law magazine ranked the Firm as one of the "Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity" for 2012.
regulated firms and designed to better understand the use of business titles, as well as firm supervision and compliance practices in this area.
influence
“Protecting investors is core to IIROC’s mandate and an important element of protection is helping to ensure that investors can make informed decisions,” said Susan Wolburgh Jenah, IIROC’s President and Chief
Executive Officer. “With many titles in use, identifying best practices that are embraced
and
implemented by IIROC- regulated firms will provide investors with better descriptions
and
understanding of the services offered to retail clients.”
IIROC is also preparing a glossary of common financial designations and certificates that will be
HSBc fined record amount for ‘stunning failures of oversight’
U.S. prosecutors have said that HSBC is guilty of a ‘blatant failure’ to prevent money laundering, and as such allowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to be daily deposited into the bank by Mexican drug traffickers.
As a result, the bank has been fined a record amount of $1.9billion and the bank’s chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, has apologised saying he was ‘profoundly sorry’ for the lack of control. According to The Guardian, he said: “We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again.”
According to The Guardian, assistant attorney general Lanny Breuer told a New York press conference that ‘HSBC is being held
accountable for stunning failures of oversight – and worse, that led the bank to permit narcotics traffickers and others to launder hundreds of millions of
dollars through HSBC subsidiaries and to facilitate hundreds of millions more in transactions with sanctioned countries’.
made available on its website in English and French and when the proposed guidance is finalised. This glossary will complement other investor education tools and resources available online at www.iiroc.ca.