The world has come a long way from the archaic arcades to today’s virtual reality video games with 3D simulators. Power packed roadshows such as CES (Las Vegas) and E3 (Los Angeles) are constantly highlighting innovations in the global video gaming industry, with new launches and technologies for multiple platforms. The value of the global … More Is the video game industry getting played by piracy?
The last few years has seen a conspicuous rise in fraud and corruption cases across the globe. Governments and regulators alike have indicated that the commitment to combat growing corporate misconduct should be improved which would augur well for businesses worldwide. This further led to the introduction of numerous regulations, establishing enforcement agencies and actively … More Bolstering cross border enforcement through the US DOJ’s policy to address “piling on”
We live in a world of wide-ranging surveillance. Historically, surveillance has been expensive and difficult to comprehend. However today with technology, surveillance has advanced in leaps and bounds with its tentacles surrounding every aspect of the current virtual world, wherein everything is either collected, saved, analysed or searched over the internet. While technology has streamlined … More Data privacy in the age of digital transformation
Fraud poses a tremendous risk and threat to organizations of all types and sizes, acting as a roadblock in their journey toward rapid growth. Among the various kinds of fraud that corporates face today, occupational fraud is likely the largest and most prevalent. To understand how occupational fraud is committed, detected, who commits it and … More Occupational fraud continues to escalate – ACFE Report 2018
Increased enforcement action, changing regulations and adoption of new technologies has transformed the risk landscape, leading to increased vulnerabilities. EY’s 15th Global Fraud Survey 2018, Integrity in the spotlight – The future of compliance stated that despite rising global enforcement, fraud and corruption continue to be one of the greatest threats to businesses worldwide. While … More Fraud, bribery and corruption continues to be a global threat: EY Global Fraud Survey
A fair competition benefits everyone, including businesses, consumers and the economy as a whole. The Competition Act, 2002, protects the process of competition in an increasingly innovative and globalized economy. It aims to safeguard the interests of the consumers and ascertain freedom of trade carried on by other players in the market. This is done … More Understanding competition law compliance in corporate India
The global landscape has been continuously evolving, coupled with rising geopolitical concerns, market volatility and cyber-attacks. There has also been a significant rise in enforcement, highlighted by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit receiving 30 voluntary disclosures when the pilot program was in effect during the 18 months, vis-a-vis 18 cases in the previous period. … More Gauging the role of Forensic Data Analytics in an era of digital transformation
The auto industry is undergoing rapid changes, operating in an increasingly complex and dynamic global landscape. There is a heightened focus on sustainability and innovation, resulting in auto companies forging strategic partnerships with stakeholders (employees, investors, vendors, sub-contractors and peer groups) based on mutual goals.
The annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International (TI) ranks countries and territories by their perceived levels of corruption and scores them on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 denotes being very clean. 2017 marked its 25th anniversary, and this year’s index analyzed perceived corruption levels with … More Corruption is still a significant obstacle for growth
There has been an increased awareness among consumers around life insurance products in India. That said, the sector continues to rely heavily on a “push-sale” methodology, thus leading to increased financial crime vulnerabilities.
The Indian information technology and technology enabled services (IT-ITeS) industry continues to benefit significantly with an uptick in private equity investments. According to a report by Venture Intelligence, private equity investments in the sector rose in 2017, accounting for 46% of the investment value and growing by 140% to $11.4 billion. Today, the IT-ITeS sector … More IT-ITeS sector – Evolving through fraud risks and governance challenges
Globally, enforcement has seen an upward trend in recent times, particularly in fraud, bribery and corruption related cases. Developed markets with strict regulations and enforcement are leading the way here, endorsing cross border collaboration and the benefits of voluntary disclosures to deter penalties. Driven by the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), many companies have … More Assessing the implication of voluntary disclosures under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy
Digital transformation has been a key enabler for accelerated business growth in India Inc. However, it has also augmented risks related to data protection, data privacy and cybercrime. EY’s Global Forensic Data Analytics Survey 2018 titled ‘How can you disrupt risk in an era of digital transformation?’ has underlined that organizations should harness the power … More Advanced Forensic Data Analytics instrumental to address data protection, privacy risks
The recent cyber-attacks inflicted by ransomware “WannaCry” and “Petya” impacted companies worldwide and across a broad range of sectors, emphasizing the growing and ever-present cyber threat that businesses are facing.
In a multi-jurisdictional and cross border environment, it is imperative for nations across the globe to strengthen their stance on anti-corruption by improved regulations to mitigate risks. In line with this, France enacted the amended SAPIN II law to combat bribery and corruption in mid-2017. The Act aims at boosting France’s competitiveness in matters related … More Demystifying the implications of France’s SAPIN II for emerging markets
Over the years, globalization has liberalized trade significantly, leading to a positive effect on the world economy. While protectionism is not a new trend, it is somewhat surprising to note that most countries do not truly practice free trade – there are always restrictions to some extent in the movement of goods and services in … More The impact of protectionism
For as long as there has been business, there has been fraud. However, the level of sophistication and magnitude of fraud perpetration has evolved considerably over the last decade even as petty corruption continues to occur in less conspicuous manners. Of the many forms that fraud can take, insider and third-party threats such as management … More Financial goals and ethical conduct: not a trade-off
The concept of robotics has been in existence for a long time, with Egyptians using automated water clocks to strike the hour bell and hydraulically operated statues that could gesture and speak in 400 BC. Subsequently, there have been many such instances of robotics in the history of mankind. The first modern-day Industrial Revolution dates … More Robotics and automation: threats and opportunities
Increased global trade, foreign direct investment, greater economic potential, large consumer base, young working population, strong domestic consumption and fluctuations in the US dollar have led to improvements in the performance of emerging markets, including India. These markets offer attractive investment opportunities with portfolio diversification, showcasing the potential for strong commercial ties with the rest … More Driving cognizance on corruption risks through greater enforcement – Int’l Anti-Corruption Day 2017
India’s business landscape remains buoyant, highlighted by improved ranking (100) in World Bank’s recently released Ease of Doing Business Report 2018. The market has seen a gradual through significant transformation on multiple fronts including new domestic and global reforms and the ongoing war against unethical practices. While, fraud, bribery and corruption remain endemic in emerging … More Strengthening governance and ethics this Int’l Fraud Awareness Week 2017
The ‘workplace of the future’ has reached its inflection point with the proliferation and promise of new age technologies. For the banking and financial services sector, early technology adoption has been beneficial and many organizations are already taking calculated steps to fuel digital transformation through the Internet of Things, cloud, deep analytics, robotics, cognitive tools … More Redefining AML compliance in banking through robotics
The business landscape in India has undergone a significant change in terms of increasing flow of foreign investments, contribution to the global economy, exponential growth of startups and technological advancements. As per the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report 2018, India jumped up by 30 points, securing a spot in the top 100 countries … More Combating corruption through robust compliance procedures – the Vigilance Awareness Week
Fraud, corruption and corporate misconduct has seen a spike worldwide in recent times. For rapidly growing economies, transparency and ease of doing business are pivotal to attracting investments. According to the Economic Survey of India 2017 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), India is now the fastest-growing G20 economy. From a business … More Turbocharging ethical growth through greater board guidance
Exchanging gifts during festivals and celebratory occasions has become a norm in many cultures over time. With the festival of lights just around the corner, ornate boxes of sweets and dry fruits can often be seen delivered across the board. Traditionally, Diwali gifts as a token of goodwill and revelry are accepted by many but … More Diwali Gifts: Where to draw the line
Organizations across the globe have been using benchmarking data to evaluate their performance, structure and operations as compared to those of their peers. Thus, benchmarking grew into a leading industry practice to assess performance, proficiently use resources, detect knowledge gaps and identify areas for improvement. To understand trends among internal fraud investigation professionals, The Association … More Building robust fraud investigation teams through benchmarking
Increased globalization has resulted in businesses expanding their footprint across the world. To drive efficiency, most organizations tend to outsource non-core activities to external or third parties. While the growing network of third parties can help organizations sustain in a challenging environment, it has also brought with it risks such as bribery and corruption, Intellectual … More Managing third party risks through enhanced due diligence
The world is dominated by the internet revolution, digital disruption, cross border transactions and consumerization today. Information and data exchange is rapid and occurring real time. Consequentially, the security concerns traversing through boundaries are bringing data protection and privacy issues, breaches and leakage of confidential information into the spotlight.
In a year characterized by geopolitical risk, economic uncertainty and increased regulatory intensity, the findings of our 2017 Asia-Pacific Fraud Survey are a cause for concern: over half of close to 1,700 respondents across sectors believed that ethical standards have not improved in their local business operations.
Increased consumer awareness and regulatory focus have transformed India’s approach to food safety. Changing reforms continue to play an important role in shaping the industry to ascertain the procurement, provision and production of food products in order to meet the highest standards of safety and hygiene.
India has witnessed tremendous growth in the power and utilities sector in recent years, with the Government launching various reforms and schemes to increase electrification reach and spread across the country. As per Central Electric Authority, India is one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of power, with over 1 trillion units generated and … More Steering the power and utilities sector through fraud and corruption risks
Every parameter is pointing toward mobile phones replacing bank branches, ATM cards and much more. But are telecom companies ready to take the consumer onslaught and ensure safe transactions?
Today’s world of corporate compliance is characterized by an increasing number of enforcement actions related to bribery and corruption. Co-operation and information sharing between enforcement agencies on multi-jurisdictional cases is also increasing. Parallelly, nations such as Brazil, Canada, Mexico, France, India, Russia, Spain and Korea are either adopting anti-bribery laws or strengthening existing legislations. By … More Expanding the arc of global corporate compliance
The threat of cybercrime on the global banking and financial services industry is apparent with a tectonic increase in cases over the past few years. These attacks have become highly targeted, and cyber criminals seem to have hit the jackpot by deploying sophisticated techniques for illicit financial gains. From hacking the bank accounts of companies, … More Countering emerging cyber threats in the banking sector
The past year has been burgeoning with growth and expansion opportunities for most countries across the globe, especially in the Asia Pacific region. Increased emphasis on cross border transactions, foreign direct investment and digital inclusion have been some of the contributing factors for the rapid economic and sustainable growth of this region. While countries in … More Navigating through fraud and corruption risks in APAC
The current global environment is ripe with opportunities for developing countries. Bangladesh’s economic scorecard is well-aligned with this trend, as it showcases significant growth in line with other markets especially in the Asia Pacific region. The current Gross Domestic Product of the country stands at 6.8%, and has consistently been above 6% over the last … More Overcoming risks and fostering an ethical business environment in Bangladesh
Mobile devices and internet have emerged from being a ‘want’ to a ‘necessity’. In recent months, telecom price wars in India have brought down the cost of high-speed mobile data. At the same time, demonetization has made many consumers become more dependent on their mobile phones to make payments. These two instances alone led to … More Why be concerned with data privacy?
Rapid globalization, rising cross-border business operations, diverse workforces and greater enforcement has caused complexities for organizations with regards to adherence to local labor laws. In the event of a possible non-compliance scenario or work permit breach, these laws may not only affect the employers locally or even internationally, but also other stakeholders such as customers, … More Are Swiss businesses doing enough to stay protected from the vulnerabilities of work permit breaches?
Inconsistency and ambiguity in encouraging high ethical standards and insufficient understanding of compliance programs have increasingly led employees to justify unethical behaviour at the workplace states EY’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) Fraud Survey, Economic uncertainty or Unethical conduct: How should over-burdened compliance functions respond? The survey highlighted that ethical leadership has emerged worrisome in India and China … More APAC Fraud Survey 2017: Corporate India sees a tussle between growth and ethical conduct
India has seen a spurt in professional sports leagues over the last few years – from cricket, to football, kabbadi, wrestling, hockey and badminton. The entertainment value it brings to millions of fans is immense. Expectedly, sponsorships and digital advertisements volumes have gone through the roof, making it a beneficial space for brand associations. Investments … More Infusing ethics in Indian sporting leagues for greater fair play
Singapore’s reputation as a “clean” country did not come by chance. It is the result of decades of strong political will to sustain a robust and comprehensive anti-corruption framework, and build a society that frowns on corruption. Recently, the city-state received a boost of confidence with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) revealing that corruption … More Singapore raising the bar in the fight against corruption
Arbitrator: “Mr. John, what is an equity beta? What is the impact of levering and unlevering a beta? How is country risk premium impacting the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) that you have applied for discounting of cash flows?”Questions such as these and more can possibly trigger an adrenaline rush for some attorneys. However, … More The role of experts in arbitration
Safeguarding your technology assets has become critical than ever before. Further to the global outbreak on Friday, many global corporations have reported ransomware infections involving WannaCry 2.0 and many others that use the same exploit as WannaCry 2.0
The Indian food industry is on an upward trajectory and emerging as a high growth space considering its contribution to the global food industry. Showing immense potential, it is expected to grow at an 11% CAGR to US$65.4 billion by 2018 as per India Brand Equity Foundation. The foundation also states that the food space … More Understanding the growing significance of food safety in the retail sector
Over the last few years, there has been an exponential rise in targeted cyber-attacks which are aimed at financial gain. Incidents around ransomware, data breach incidents and Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS attacks also made headlines worldwide. Today, a company’s ability to deal with such situations effectively is a priority but at the same … More Cyber incident response remains low in corporate India
High growth and entrepreneurial companies have emerged as the backbone of India’s economic success story and a key factor in the country’s development and progress. They have contributed significantly to the GDP, offered numerous opportunities by creating jobs, increased exports and delivered high value to the stakeholders involved. With changing times, building high growth companies … More Unleashing the potential of high growth companies by mitigating risks
The threat of cybercrime, and particularly ransomware has been accelerating at an alarming rate in recent times. In Switzerland, a number of high profile cases have been reported, indicating a shift in the perpetrator’s focus from targeting individuals to not only small and medium sized companies but also large organizations. Trend shows the healthcare sector … More Escalating ransomware threats in the healthcare sector
The Indian pharmaceutical industry has been inundated by a substantial number of regulatory inspections, especially from US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and other prominent regulatory authorities such as UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Health Canada. The challenges arising here may be daunting but the emphasis has been to steadily … More Building the base for ‘good’ data integrity
Uncertainties in the business environment, augmenting pressure to meet financial targets and aspirations to achieve unprecedented career growth are driving employees to justify unethical workplace behaviour, states EY’s Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) Fraud Survey. The India findings of the survey titled Human instinct or machine logic – which do you trust most in … More EMEIA Fraud Survey 2017: Is workplace ethics taking a backseat in India?
In recent times, there have been increasing concerns around data breaches and other security threats among companies and individuals alike. The use of new techniques and complex technologies has been both a bane and a boon here. Some stakeholders believe that the risk of data breach increases with growing technology adoption, while others believe that … More Protect confidential data from being sold as ‘scrap’
Gift giving is a customary practice during festive seasons and special occasions (such as birthdays) in many parts of the world. But where should one draw the line in matters of business? What can be done when company executives are expected to give away ‘perks’ in the form of special movie screenings, free tickets to … More The ethical dilemma – to gift or not to gift?
