As prosecutors continue to accuse companies and individuals of foreign bribery, banks should be cautious about how they acquire licenses and sovereign wealth accounts, and where their clients send money abroad, say consultants.
The U.S. Justice Department's long-awaited guidance for businesses complying with a foreign anti-bribery law will do little to change its enforcement even as it sets some minds at ease, say attorneys.
Pending U.S. guidance for the country's foreign anti-bribery law and an ongoing political push to amend its rules could mean compliance changes for banks and other businesses, say analysts.
As global efforts to crack down on bribery grow, financial institutions need to more closely scrutinize the accounts they maintain for politically-tied figures, according to a former senior assistant U.S. attorney.
Senate panel members Tuesday criticized the U.S. Justice Department's enforcement of a U.S. anti-bribery law even as representatives from the commercial sector asked Congress to better shield it from penalties.
U.S. Justice Department investigations of foreign bribery will likely end up snaring financial institutions, according to the former head of the government's anti-corruption unit.
The rise in U.S. prosecutions of companies that bribe foreign officials won't likely plateau for another four or five years, when European countries are expected to further clamp down on the crime, according to the former assistant chief for the Fraud Section of the Justice Department.
The U.S. Justice Department plans to grow its staff of less than 10 prosecutors specializing in cases tied to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to 15 or more, a spokeswoman confirmed.
Banks and other companies around the world are delaying deals in developing markets, in some cases canceling projects altogether, because they are afraid of being snared by anti-corruption laws, according to a private survey released today.
The conviction of a former U.S. congressman on corruption charges is more than just another public scandal, say white-collar crime analysts. It's a sign that the United States is increasingly willing to levy a 1977 anti-bribery law against individuals, they say.
The number and size of fines levied annually against financial institutions and other corporations for bribery is likely to continue to rise as the global recession fuels corruption, say analysts.
Defendants in an international bribery case have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case that could alter the way that the U.S. Justice Department enforces an international anti-corruption law, according to legal analysts.
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