Whether you’re a growing business expanding into new territories or a well-established firm with clientele around the country or the globe, navigating the challenges of multi-jurisdictional compliance is not for the weak.
Suddenly rules and requirements are doubled or tripled, and your team is left to navigate the nuanced details of each regulatory body. Compounding this pressure? Your firm’s continued growth, which as any compliance team knows, comes with new teams to manage and new requirements to fulfill.
So, how can you navigate this quagmire of compliance criteria? Let’s dig in.
The Top 5 Compliance Challenges for Multi-jurisdictional Financial Firms
The goal of any firm is to grow its business and gain more clients along the way. However, should that mean venturing into new territories (and new compliance jurisdictions), which can often create ripple effects for the firm’s compliance teams?
Our work with thousands of clients in this exact situation has provided a window into the top five most common challenges firms often face in these situations:
1. Navigating 2-3x the rules and requirements
Every regulator has their own set of specifications, requirements, and nuances. And for multi-jurisdictional compliance teams? Each of those requirements must be met for each set of regulators. Which means 2 or 3 times the burden and demand.
2. Managing teams across various states and countries
While a team spread around the country or the globe might mean you don’t have to physically run around the office chasing overdue certifications, it does mean you’re faced with navigating different time zones, work schedules, and more. Not to mention the difficulty of effectively creating a culture of compliance that spreads across thousands of miles.
3. Getting a clear view of the entire compliance organization
With projects in different silos, countries, and teams, it can be difficult to accurately gain a clear view of what’s happening, what needs to be done, and how it’s impacting the wider organization. Which can lead to….
4. Compliance tasks falling through the cracks
Let’s face it: even with one regulator, it can be almost too easy to miss a task or to-do. Multiplying that demand by 2 or 3 with the additional rules and regulators? And suddenly managing the varied demands of the regulators, and ensuring every task is completed on time and up to par, can feel like an almost impossibility.
5. Reporting on the success of the compliance program
With siloed teams and systems, creating a read out of your compliance program essentially demands countless hours in excel, manually analyzing the various projects, teams, and timelines. Hours you simply don’t have in your day.
But it’s not all bad news. With the right support, firm growth doesn’t have to come at the detriment of your compliance department.
Leveraging Technology to Navigate the Demands of Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance
Today’s regulatory landscape requires compliance teams to have a certain level of dexterity and adaptability.
What doesn’t support that need? Manual processes, outdated tech, and point solutions that require you to log in and out all day, every day.
But it’s not all bad news. With a 360-degree compliance solution, compliance teams can navigate multiple demands, multiple priorities, and multiple compliance jurisdictions.
So, how does it all work exactly? And what are the benefits?
How it works: A custom calendar is prepopulated with specific tasks and requirements based off of your Policies and Procedures, Form ADV, and any other key documents based on your specific regulatory requirements. Each calendar item comes with expert guidance from COMPLY’s consulting team, who offer best practices on how to address new rules and changes.
The benefit: You don’t have to slog through tasks that have no relevance to your firm. Instead, you can hyper-focus on the critical reviews and testings mandated by the SEC, FINRA, FCA, etc. And rest easy knowing a team of compliance experts are pushing new content to your calendar full of best practice guides to help you address complex changes.
How it works: Requirements for applicable new rules are automatically added into your calendar along with associated best practices written by our regulatory and compliance experts
The benefit: You don’t have to worry about a new rule or requirement throwing off your whole calendar, instead you can rest assured you’ll be prompted to complete the appropriate tests and to-dos following the compliance date.
How it works: Reminders are sent out to any individual or groups who have not completed their compliance tasks.
The benefit: You don’t have to spend your day running (physically or virtually) around your office, following up with anyone and everyone. Which puts more time back on your calendar to focus on the big picture.
How it works: Customized views allow individuals to see any tasks pertinent to their role, while the CCO can view the entire organization.
The benefit: Meaning? You get a bird’s eye view of potential risk and gaps before they turn into deficiencies. Noticing a specific group within the org is always late on their attestations? You can take that data and turn it into actionable tasks like mandating training, ensuring they understand the importance of their role in compliance, etc.
How it works: After every task and to-do, the system automatically generates the appropriate documentation for your annual reviews as well as potential audits.
The benefit: You don’t have to worry about keeping track of all the paperwork and can rest easy knowing, should the regulators come knocking, you have the proof to substantiate your compliance program’s effectiveness. And it’s right at your fingertips.
Achieving 360-Degree Compliance
Staying ahead of the ever-evolving regulatory landscape can be a daunting task for many firms. Regulatory scrutiny compounded by increased compliance risks has created the potential for a litany of different issues.
With the right resources, however, those issues don’t have to burden your firm.
COMPLY Program Management keeps firm-wide compliance activities on track with a central Compliance Calendar, tools to automate and document your risk assessment and annual review, plus hands-on guidance from compliance experts. But it goes beyond that. COMPLY helps firms achieve 360-degree compliance by connecting the dots between the day-to-day compliance tasks – like issuing certifications, monitoring employee trades and digital assets, managing conflicts of interest and restricted lists, identifying, documenting and reporting policy breaches, and generating reports for key stakeholders – within the same solution you manage your compliance program.
By combining innovative technology and automation solutions with COMPLY’s premier consulting services, your firm can confidently navigate SEC and state requirements, maintain compliance, and continue to scale your firm to future growth and success.
Ready to COMPLY with Confidence? Let’s talk.