Jul182017

ESMA recommends improvements in financial information enforcement

EU

The peer review was carried out on the basis of a questionnaire to all NCAs, as well as on-site visits to seven jurisdictions: Germany, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, and the UK.

The report identifies that further improvements are needed in relation to:

·         how issuers are selected to examine their financial information;

·         the depth of inquiries into financial statements going beyond correcting disclosure; and

·         the financial and human resources allocated by NCAs to the enforcement of financial information.

In particular, five of the jurisdictions – Malta, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and UK – do not fully comply with Guideline 5, which requires that NCAs use selection models in which all issuers are eligible to be selected for scrutiny.

Steven Maijoor, ESMA Chair, said:

“The peer review’s findings show that in some jurisdictions there is a risk that insufficient resources are allocated to enforcement, and that some issuers are not eligible to be selected for scrutiny. Additionally, in some jurisdictions there is a tendency to focus on disclosure issues instead of in-depth inquiries into valuation issues. ESMA will work with the national competent authorities to implement the recommendations of the peer review, in order to promote more convergent supervisory practices throughout Europe.”

Recommendations

The Report makes a number of recommendations where NCAs and/or ESMA should consider further action: 

·         Enforcement of financial information should not be an ancillary function. NCAs should ensure that sufficiently skilled and dedicated staff are available for this purpose;

·         A list of common risk factors should be created, to be used by all NCAs in the selection of issuers for examination;

·         All NCAs should use a common approach for the selection model, providing for the use of rotation and random selection in addition to selection based on identified risks;

·         NCAs should ensure that the selection models allow the coverage of the whole population of issuers in a Member State within at least 10-15 years;

·         The default type of examination should be unlimited in scope. This examination should cover all relevant areas of the accounting framework, i.e. recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosures, and all relevant documents published by an issuer, e.g. the management report, consolidated and separate financial statements; and

·         NCAs are encouraged to ask issuers questions even where there is no suspicion of misstatement.

Next steps

ESMA will now consider these recommendations and work with the NCAs in the corporate reporting area to see if they can be addressed by amendments to the Guidelines or by other work in this area.

Jul182017

ESMA recommends improvements in financial information enforcement

EU

The peer review was carried out on the basis of a questionnaire to all NCAs, as well as on-site visits to seven jurisdictions: Germany, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, and the UK.

The report identifies that further improvements are needed in relation to:

·         how issuers are selected to examine their financial information;

·         the depth of inquiries into financial statements going beyond correcting disclosure; and

·         the financial and human resources allocated by NCAs to the enforcement of financial information.

In particular, five of the jurisdictions – Malta, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and UK – do not fully comply with Guideline 5, which requires that NCAs use selection models in which all issuers are eligible to be selected for scrutiny.

Steven Maijoor, ESMA Chair, said:

“The peer review’s findings show that in some jurisdictions there is a risk that insufficient resources are allocated to enforcement, and that some issuers are not eligible to be selected for scrutiny. Additionally, in some jurisdictions there is a tendency to focus on disclosure issues instead of in-depth inquiries into valuation issues. ESMA will work with the national competent authorities to implement the recommendations of the peer review, in order to promote more convergent supervisory practices throughout Europe.”

Recommendations

The Report makes a number of recommendations where NCAs and/or ESMA should consider further action: 

·         Enforcement of financial information should not be an ancillary function. NCAs should ensure that sufficiently skilled and dedicated staff are available for this purpose;

·         A list of common risk factors should be created, to be used by all NCAs in the selection of issuers for examination;

·         All NCAs should use a common approach for the selection model, providing for the use of rotation and random selection in addition to selection based on identified risks;

·         NCAs should ensure that the selection models allow the coverage of the whole population of issuers in a Member State within at least 10-15 years;

·         The default type of examination should be unlimited in scope. This examination should cover all relevant areas of the accounting framework, i.e. recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosures, and all relevant documents published by an issuer, e.g. the management report, consolidated and separate financial statements; and

·         NCAs are encouraged to ask issuers questions even where there is no suspicion of misstatement.

Next steps

ESMA will now consider these recommendations and work with the NCAs in the corporate reporting area to see if they can be addressed by amendments to the Guidelines or by other work in this area.

Jul182017

Children increasingly targeted for murder, rape in Central African Republic – UNICEF

United Nations

18 July 2017 – Renewed fighting in the Central African Republic (CAR) is increasingly targeting children, while there are concerns that the humanitarian needs in the country could escalate to levels not seen since the crisis four years ago, United Nations humanitarian officials today said.

Months of renewed fighting have led to an “increasing number of violent acts” targeting the youngest population, including murders, abductions, rape and recruitment into armed groups, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.

Christine Muhigana, UNICEF Representative in CAR warned that “armed groups and parties to the conflict must cease these flagrant violations of children’s rights and make every effort to keep children safe.”

The exact numbers of attacks on children is unknown because fighting prevents humanitarian access to many areas, the UN agency said, but “is almost certain to be much higher than officially reported figures.”

In addition to brutal crimes, the intensified violence is preventing children from going to school or even getting basic vaccines.

In the southern areas of CAR, the fighting is driving people to flee into remote areas of northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where they are nearly out of reach of the humanitarian community.

As of the end of June, some 103,000 CAR refugees were registered in the DRC, said William Spindler, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Refugees are staying everywhere they can – in churches, in buildings used as schools, in the only health centre, or sleeping in the open. People desperately need more healthcare, food and shelter,” Mr. Spindler told journalists in Geneva about the situation in Ndu, which is barely more than a village.

Also today, the UN’s top humanitarian official expressed extreme concern about the upsurge in fighting since the start of the year, and warned that it puts at risk the gains made since 2015.

“If we do not act now and keep the faith, we will see increasing need and even greater vulnerability of already weakened people. We risk seeing even greater stress on the capacities of humanitarian actors and funding mechanisms,” said the UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien.

Speaking to reporters in Bangui on the last of his three-day visit, Mr. O’Brien urged the international community to sustain its efforts for the sake of CAR’s people and the future of the country.

The continued deterioration has led the humanitarian community to revise its Humanitarian Response Plan, which now requires $497 million, but is only 24 per cent funded, he said.

Jul182017

News story: New Director General of Immigration Enforcement appointed

HM Government

Hugh Ind has been appointed as the new Director General of Immigration Enforcement, the Home Office announced today (18 July).

Hugh, who has worked for the Home Office for 26 years, takes up his new role with immediate effect.

He takes overall responsibility for Immigration Enforcement, which is responsible for preventing abuse, tracking immigration offenders and increasing compliance with immigration law.

Hugh joined the Home Office in 1991 and previously held roles including the leadership of the Bill Team for the Regulation of the Investigatory Powers Act 2000. He was Strategic Director for the UK’s Asylum System from 2009 to 2013 and has been the interim Director General of Immigration Enforcement since autumn 2016.

Permanent Secretary Philip Rutnam said:

I would like to congratulate Hugh on his permanent appointment. His experience from both within and leading Immigration Enforcement will provide sound, consistent leadership and I look forward to continuing to work with him.

Commenting on his appointment, Hugh Ind said:

Having grown up in the Home Office, it is a great personal honour for me to be appointed Director General of Immigration Enforcement and to lead operations that are of such significance to the British public.

I look forward to continuing to realise our vision of reducing the illegal migrant population by ensuring compliance with immigration laws right across the UK and further increasing the number of foreign national offenders we remove from the UK.