This article by Tariq Akbar was first published on January 24, 2022 in The Green Sheet Online Edition
Financial services companies are among the most heavily regulated businesses in the world, with laws that constantly change. Depending on their focus and geographical footprint, these firms—and their in-house counsel—must ensure complete compliance with innumerable international, federal and state regulations. And, no matter how well-staffed they are, there’s a good chance something will fall through the cracks.
Compounding this, financial services companies commonly have divisions siloed off from each other, managing compliance in isolation. For example, clients are often onboarded by a sales team before know your customer and anti-money laundering checks are done, leaving the company open to liability—or regulations change, but not everyone is aware of new requirements.
These firms are just one enforcement inquiry away from a nightmare scenario—because they don’t have a centralized way to track compliance. I come across this often in working with in-house legal and compliance departments at financial institutions, which mystifies me, particularly since there is a relatively straightforward and painless tech solution: dashboarding. A compliance dashboard is purpose-built software designed to help in-house counsel and compliance personnel monitor their company at a glance. It provides everything needed to know about steps taken, training conducted, information secured from clients, verifications performed and more.
The process that goes into creating a compliance dashboard is something companies should be going through anyway. This includes identifying known risks, monitoring applicable regulations and creating playbooks to guide all decisions regarding compliance initiatives. The dashboard pulls that information together so the entire company can be monitored and actions taken to mitigate liability. 2022 should be the year financial services companies get serious about compliance dashboards. This will put an end not only to sleepless nights, but also headline-grabbing compliance lapses that invite the scrutiny of enforcement personnel.
Tariq Akbar,
Chief Executive Officer, LegalEase Solutions tariq.akbar@legaleasesolutions.com
