reputational risks News

PwC Weighs Halving of China Financial Services Audit Staff, Sources Say

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is considering slashing up to half its financial services auditing staff in China, two people with knowledge of the matter said, as a regulatory investigation and an exodus of clients darken business prospects. The move follows Chinese regulators’ …

PwC Starts Mass China Layoffs After Losing Dozens of Clients

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is cutting staff across its China operations, according to people familiar with the matter, after an exodus of corporate clients diminished the accounting firm’s revenue prospects in the country. At least 100 staffers from different teams at PwC …

Evergrande Liquidation Lawyers Probe PwC, Others to Recoup Creditor Losses: Sources

Lawyers appointed by the liquidators of China Evergrande Group 3333.HK are investigating some of the property developer’s service providers including its former auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, to potentially recoup losses for creditors, three sources said. Evergrande, once China’s largest property developer, was …

China Weighs Record Fine for PwC Over Evergrande Audit Work

China is poised to impose a record fine on PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and suspend some of the global auditor’s local operations over its role in one of the nation’s biggest alleged financial fraud cases, according to people familiar with the matter. …

PwC Lost Five China Clients After Evergrande-Linked Probe

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP lost five Chinese clients in May alone, adding to a list of more than a dozen firms its stopped auditing in the country in the last two years. China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co. said on May 27 it …

Clorox Audit Revealed Cybersecurity Flaws at Its Plants in 2020

A few years before a 2023 cyberattack disrupted manufacturing at one of the largest US producers of disinfectants ahead of flu season, an audit warned of systemic cybersecurity flaws within the company’s production systems. Among the shortcomings highlighted by the …

Australia’s Westpac Banking Fined A$113M for Multiple Compliance Breaches

An Australian court ordered Westpac Banking Corp. to pay A$113 million ($82.92 million) in penalties for multiple compliance failures across its businesses, after hearing the last of the six cases filed against it by the country’s corporate watchdog. The Federal …

Dirty Money Worried Swedbank Compliance Officers but Bosses Kept Mum: Documents

In the summer of 2018, a senior anti money-laundering official at Swedbank AB appeared anxious as he read reports that its competitor Danske Bank A/S could be fined by U.S. authorities for alleged crimes in the Baltics. “I’m afraid that …

Australia’s Westpac Bank to Pay $80.6M in Penalties, Admits Charging Dead People

Westpac Banking Corp. agreed to pay A$113 million ($80.6 million) in penalties after the Australian regulator alleged the lender had widespread compliance failures that included charging dead people. The case includes a claim that Westpac charged more than A$10 million …

Greensill Capital Collapse Exposes Less-Than-Adequate Technological Capabilities

Lex Greensill promoted his business as the future of finance, talking up a technology superior to Wall Street rivals that allowed him to lend at super-low rates based on real-time information. But former staff at Greensill Capital, as well as …