Navigate Complex Compliance Issues with Confidence
Jinfo Blog

By Andrew Lucas

Abstract

Andrew Lucas looks at some of the themes that will feature in our FreePint Topic Series: Compliance in Context which will be running over the next two months. Compliance is not just about complying with regulatory requirements; it is also about protecting your business by carrying out due diligence on new commercial relationships.

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Compliance is here to stay. While some may see compliance as a burden on business, the public and political mood in the wake of the series of financial crises that have rocked the world over the last five years means that the level of compliance required from business will continue its inexorable rise.

Chris Porter’s upcoming in-depth product review of Thomson Reuters' Compliance Complete quotes the vendor as saying that "the number of regulatory alerts worldwide rose 25% in 2012 to 17,763; it says that 2013 is averaging 85 regulatory alerts per day". If the alerts continue at that rate, that'll be over 31,000 by the end of the year.

But it is not just regulatory demands that are driving the growth in compliance products, companies have increasingly become aware of the importance of carrying out due diligence for all commercial relationships, from onboarding staff to new commercial partners.

A recent survey published by Deloitte and The Wall Street Journal Risk & Compliance Journal ("The Ripple Effect" - PDF) found that 71% of the executives responding considered supply chain risk an important factor in their strategic decision-making. The dangers to the supply chain from a dishonest party are real risk in a global economy where a supplier may be a continent away.

Ignore Compliance at Your Peril

Compliance has become an essential topic that no organisation can afford to ignore and it forms one of FreePint’s core focus areas. You may already have already read Sophie Alexander’s Mini Review of Alacra Compliance Enterprise (ACE) and her update on Lexis Diligence, following our full review in 2011, as well as Chris Porter’s in-depth report on Bureau van Dijk's Compliance Catalyst.

Over the next two months we will be featuring articles on other compliance products, including Bridger Insight from Lexis Nexis and a full report on Thomson Reuters' Compliance Complete.

Key themes emerging from the product reviews are:

• The importance of workflow
• The functionality required to build reports and create an audit trail.

Guiding You Through the Compliance Framework

The compliance market can seem confusing at times, with an increasing amount of consolidation amongst the major players and array of products, so we will be publishing a handy guide in the shape of a compliance product vendor map. In addition, we will be giving an overview of the regulatory framework for compliance in key jurisdictions and considering how you can keep up with regulatory change.

Other articles focus on:

• The workflow of a compliance officer and their information requirements
• How to choose the right compliance tools
• How to determine product ROI.

We will also look in depth at a couple of more technical issues:

• How to search for names that may have been spelt incorrectly or that can be transcribed in different forms
• How to ensure ensure that your organisation is using its information effectively to identify Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).

We will be bringing you Q&As with some of the leading vendors as well as a webinar looking at how vendors collect and validate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and PEP data from different jurisdictions.

Register Your Interest

If you need "basic training" in compliance awareness, if you'd like to update your skills and knowledge around specific compliance products and workflows, or if your internal compliance department could benefit from a higher level of support from you and your team, you don't want to miss any of the FreePint Topic Series: Compliance in Context.

All content is available as part of a FreePint Subscription; selected articles, reports and the webinar are available to anyone, regardless of subscription status.

Stay informed about new content as it's added to the series, and get early notification when webinar registration opens. Register your interest now, and you'll also get a free copy of the FreePint Report: Buyer's Guide on Compliance Information as soon as it's published in October.

We are able to provide the buyer's guide and the FreePint Webinar, along with selected premium content, at no cost to users thanks to generous sponsorship:

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