Audit within the corporate governance paradigm: a cornerstone built on shifting sand?:a cornerstone built on shifting sand?

This paper is a case study-based investigation of aspects of the current paradigmatic approach to ‘good’ corporate governance with its focus on the interlinked roles of internal control and risk management procedures, internal audit and external audit, overseen and co-ordinated by a formal structure of board committees, in particular the audit committee. The evidence that we adduce from the study of four high-profile cases of perceived accounting and governance failure provides limited assurance that this approach will in fact be cost-effective or efficient in preventing further such cases of accounting and governance failure. Specifically, issues as to remuneration and fee dependence; lack of relevant knowledge and expertise; and social and psychological dependence upon executive management appear to have significantly and negatively affected the quality of decision-making of governance gatekeepers. This suggests that further consideration of relevant economic, institutional and cognitive/behavioural factors beyond the rational choice model of traditional economics should underpin future developments in required modes and structures of governance

The regulatory technology “RegTech” and money laundering prevention in Islamic and conventional banking industry

© 2020 The Authors This study aims to illustrate the impact of adopting Regulatory technology (RegTech) innovations in banks on money laundering prevention effectiveness using Bahrain as a case study. Bahrain has strived to position itself as the banking center of the Arabian Gulf, hence the results of this novel research are informative of the practices in the region. The primary data for this study was collected through a survey instrument distributed to 100 bankers working in Bahrain with expertise in compliance. The results of multivariate analysis indicate that transactions monitoring through RegTech and cost- and time-saving aspects of RegTech, drive money laundering prevention effectiveness to a highly statistically significant extent. However, electronic know your customer (KYC) technologies are insignificant as drivers. This research not only sheds light on the efficacy of RegTech but also raises general awareness concerning the adoption and integration of RegTech platforms for fighting money laundering. In particular, the findings provide specific insights about the deployment of RegTech capabilities in banks in regional banking centers of modest scale