InfoBytes Blog
NYDFS fines international bank $15 million after whistleblower investigation
On December 18, NYDFS announced a $15 million settlement with an international bank and its New York branch resolving allegations stemming from an investigation into the governance, controls, and corporate culture relating to the bank’s whistleblower program. According to the announcement, NYDFS’ investigation determined that several members of senior management failed to follow or apply the bank’s whistleblower policies and procedures, which allegedly allowed the bank’s CEO to attempt to identify the author(s) of two whistleblowing letters criticizing his and bank’s management’s roles in recruiting and employing a recently hired senior executive. Additionally, the investigation found that, in alleged violation of New York Banking Law, the bank (i) failed to devise and implement effective governance and controls with respect to the whistleblower program; and (ii) failed to submit a report to NYDFS immediately upon discovering misconduct.
NYDFS acknowledged the bank’s substantial cooperation in the investigation, including engaging an outside consultant to perform an independent review of the whistleblowing policies, processes, and controls. Additionally NYDFS stated the bank has already addressed certain deficiencies noted in the Consent Order, including implementing (i) procedures which recognize that concerns raised outside whistleblowing channels may nevertheless constitute whistleblows; (ii) procedures which would avoid escalating a whistleblow to the subject of the concern; and (c) procedures to preserve whistleblower anonymity. In addition to the $15 million penalty, the bank must create a written plan to improve compliance and oversight of the whistleblower program and submit a report to NYDFS that contains all instances of whistleblower complaints since January 2017, attempts to identify whistleblowers, and any reported or sustained instances of whistleblower retaliation.