Being a chief compliance officer (CCO) is certainly not without its challenges. Unless you operate a large-scale firm, chances are your compliance team is small — maybe even a one-person operation.
It’s also possible – likely even – that your compliance responsibilities are secondary to your actual role as CEO, COO, manager or other demanding position. Yet compliance cannot be an afterthought, and your related policies and procedures must adapt quickly to evolving standards.
At ComplySci, we’re committed to helping firms of all types to stay ahead of the regulatory curve. But what does that mean exactly, and how exactly do you do it? The SEC imposes new regulations, changes existing ones and enforces strict implementation — meaning financial firms need to be able to stay on top of the regulatory landscape in order to avoid penalties or fines.
Here are a few ways to you can stay ahead of the regulatory curve – and avoid costly penalties from the SEC.
Tactics to help CCOs stay ahead of the regulatory curve
Leverage technology
The financial services industry is slowly adopting more technology, including compliance software. There are intuitive platforms available to financial professionals with the specific purpose of overseeing and simplifying compliance procedures.
If you are pulling double-duty as CCO, you may be too busy to keep up with all the latest regulatory changes on a day-to-day basis. From aggregating data to flagging potential violations, compliance program software can help CCOs stay ahead of changes in legislation as they occur.
Work with compliance consultants and/or outsourced services
With a compliance consultant or outsourced service provider, you can avoid hiring a full-time compliance team member, while still accessing the robust resources and ongoing support your CCO needs. This kind of external expert helps bridge the gap between your firm and the SEC’s most up-to-date regulatory requirements. Essentially, it’s their job to do what you rarely have time to do, namely continuously monitoring the latest changes.
Not only can a outsourced service provider alert you to legislative changes, but they can help you solidify your current policies and procedures. They’ll let you know if anything is slipping through the cracks, or if there are potential areas for improvement. The purpose of working with a compliance consultant is to take the burden of ongoing compliance monitoring off of the CCO, without letting firm policies and procedures suffer.
Stay in-the-know with relevant organizations
Social media can be used for more than connecting with friends or prospective clients. It’s also a great place to get the most up-to-date information on big regulatory changes or SEC announcements.
By following relevant organizations on your social platform of choice, you increase your chances of seeing important updates. Here are a few of our favorites:
If you aren’t one for social media, you can also sign up to receive email updates from the SEC.
Prioritize compliance training for your team
Never assume your team members are fully aware of all compliance policies and procedures. In fact, it may be safer to assume that they can (and will) forget certain procedures from time to time. Rather than be caught off guard by a violation or enter into an audit underprepared, make time regularly for compliance training with your team.
Email reminders will likely be ignored by at least half of your team. Asking people to review a stack of policy documents won’t do much better. You need to engage with your team, review recent changes, and share real-life examples of why compliance procedures matter.
Put time on everyone’s calendars at least once per year so you can sit down as a team – and make it mandatory. Run through recent SEC Risk Alerts, encourage questions and reintroduce any procedures your team may be struggling to follow.
Encourage a culture of compliance
While annual trainings are helpful, your CCO should be encouraging every team member to foster a culture of compliance. From the President or CEO to the newest support staff member, staying ahead of the regulatory curve means getting, and keeping, everyone on board. Once you’ve established a culture of compliance, it becomes much easier to get team members to adopt critical changes in real time.
As complex as regulatory changes may seem, it is possible to stay ahead of the curve and empower your team to follow up-to-date compliance procedures. Book a demo with ComplySci to learn more.