Blog Article

How to Manage Compliance Violations with COMPLY

Dec 03, 2024

How you handle violations or general acts of non-compliance can be the difference between significant penalties and a simple “slap on the wrist.”  Let’s walk through COMPLY’s Case Management solution, highlighting how this integrated capability supports ongoing compliance even when a violation occurs.  

Every day CCOs and compliance teams enact and maintain compliance policies, procedures, and processes designed to mitigate risk and protect their firm.  

But what happens when a violation occurs?  

How you handle violations or general acts of non-compliance can be the difference between significant penalties and a simple “slap on the wrist.”  

Let’s walk through COMPLY’s Case Management solution, highlighting how this integrated capability supports ongoing compliance even when a violation occurs.  

What’s at Stake: The Importance of Documenting and Investigating Compliance Violations 

Over the past year, record-breaking fines and enforcement have made headlines time and again. The takeaway? Regulators are not pulling any punches when it comes to ensuring regulatory requirements are met by firms large and small.  

Notably, common themes have included: 

  • Off-channel communications 
  • Marketing rule violations 
  • Insider trading 
  • AI-washing 

As the CCO or compliance professional, it is up to you to manage and mitigate the risk of such violations occurring at your own firm. However, it is near impossible to completely eliminate such risks. And when a violation does occur, there is a certain expectation for what should follow.  

As evidenced in recent cases, the SEC has shown leniency for firms that self-report and take remediation efforts, which makes following auditable corrective processes even more important.  

At a high level, a firm should: 

  1. Take immediate action when a violation is uncovered 
  1. Investigate the violation, bringing in the appropriate parties as necessary 
  1. Remediate any compliance gaps that contributed to the violation occurring  
  1. Self-report to applicable regulatory bodies as appropriate 
  1. Document the results 

Historically, this process has been extremely manual, with compliance teams chasing paper trails and investigation notes. But what if there was a better way? 

Managing Compliance Violations with COMPLY Case Management 

COMPLY’s Case Management is the leading solution on the market to track and manage potential compliance policy violations from discovery to remediation.  

Integrated directly within the COMPLY platform, compliance professionals can easily leverage Case Management to track and document investigations, reporting out the findings and remediation efforts to internal and external stakeholders. 

With the support of COMPLY Case Management, violation tracking and remediation is as easy as: 

  1. Record identified events, such as unmatched trade violations, undisclosed accounts, off-channel communications, or other policy breaches 
  1. Manage investigations and document all related activities 
  1. Automatically build a Violations Log to easily share information internally and externally 

And the benefits of COMPLY Case Management don’t stop at automation. COMPLY clients can: 

  • Easily report on any violations and the remediation efforts taken with the comprehensive Violations Log 
  • Keep all investigation-related data electronically organized – and accessible in moments 
  • Monitor and report on all cases 
  • Identify potential patterns of behavior more easily, helping keep investors safe from harm while meeting regulatory obligations 

Interested in learning more about COMPLY Case Management? Let’s talk.