Listen to Simon Airey speaking to Sundaraparipurnan Narayanan on Anti-corruption enforcement expectations in UK and essentials #compliance officers shall consider in the current environment. https://lnkd.in/dNK88wy #NexdigmOnABAC #NexdigmABAC
Day: July 15, 2020
Sundaraparipurnan Narayanan speaks with Robert Wyld of Johnson Winter & Slattery on #corruption risks during #Covid19 and #regulatory changes in Govt touch points along with other critical aspects as part of our Global Anti Bribery Corruption Series. Listen to the full podcast at https://lnkd.in/dh6nPwh #NexdigmOnABAC #NexdigmABAC
In this episode, I visit with Don Stern, Managing Director of Corporate Monitoring & Consulting Services. We explore how to go about assessing ethics and compliance in the mergers and acquisition (M&A) context and the impact that M&A has on both the acquired entity and the acquirer. Stern began by noting the inherent risk in the entire M&A process. Yet, the culture perspective is not often considered in the pre-acquisition phase. Stern believes companies are making a big mistake in doing so. Companies spend huge amounts of resources to hire lawyers, investment bankers, accountants for the pre-acquisition phase. They scrub the financials, look at income and look at revenues and expenses. Yet they often spend almost no time in looking at issues like the ethical culture of the company to be acquired. Stern stated, “I’ve never quite understood that everyone understands the risk of any acquisition. That the company picture may not work out quite as rosy as was expected. They may be some synergies that were expected from an expense point of view that don’t quite work out.”
The lack of knowledge on each parties culture can lead to many problems in the post-acquisition phase. Stern emphasized that the key is to not only come in with a plan but to listen and be attentive while implementing the plan. This can lead to a standoff in accomplishing the integration steps required under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) or similar legislation. However, this is the situation where an independent monitor can assist both parties. Even after closing, an independent integrity monitor can come in and help to smooth out the process. An independent third party comes in with credibility and experience which allows employees at the acquired entity to communicate their concerns in a way that really is very helpful to the acquiring company. Employees can communicate such basic issues as they do not understand the new training they are required to go through, how things do not seem to fit together or the most basic question of why they are now required to do something. Employees can explain why risk areas may exist in other places but not exist in some others. Someone who is truly independent, with no stake in the game, can help make those explanations in a non-threatening way. The key is that independent third-party expert.
Welcome to the newest addition to the Compliance Podcast Network, Compliance and Coronavirus. In this episode, I discuss how Covid-19 has and will drive the digital transformation of compliance. When you look at some of the biggest influences on business going forward, digital transformation is one of the most positive during the age of Coronavirus. This has significant impact for the compliance professional going forward when you consider the questions posed by the Department of Justice in the 2020 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs. For additional information on the digital transformation of business see the Fortune.com article, Why COVID-19 hasn’t stopped digital transformation at midsize companies
The building blocks of any compliance program lay the foundations for a best practices compliance program. For instance, in the lifecycle management of third-parties, most compliance practitioners understand the need for a business justification, questionnaire, due diligence, evaluation and compliance terms and conditions in contracts. However, as many companies mature in their compliance programs, the issue of third-party management becomes more important. It is also the one where the rubber meets the road of operationalizing compliance.
The key is to have a strategic approach to how you structure and manage your third-party relationships during the full lifecycle of the contract. This may mean more closely partnering with your third-parties to help manage the anti-corruption compliance risk. It would certainly lead towards enabling your company to manage the bribery and corruption risk while optimizing the performance of your third-parties.
Three key takeaways:
- Have a strategic approach to third-party risk management.
- Keep track of the financial stability of your third-parties.
- Rank third-parties based upon a variety of factors including compliance and business performance, length of relationship, benchmarking metrics and KPIs.
Welcome to the Great Women in Compliance Podcast, co-hosted by Lisa Fine and Mary Shirley.
As the Great Women in Compliance podcast continues looking at Black Lives Matter and how our professional community, we are so grateful to Jennifer Newton for joining Lisa. Jennifer is an attorney at GreenbergTraurig and focuses on banking and financial institutions on risk management and compliance matters. She is also one of the founders of the National Association of Black Compliance & Risk Management Professionals (NABCRMP), an organization that is starting out and is dedicated to networking, promotion and advancement of Black Risk Management Professionals.
She has spent her career in the financial and regulatory compliance world and has great insight on that area as a whole. We discuss the importance of diverse viewpoints, and also how the failure to do so can actually increase risk and issues for an organization as not all views are included at senior levels, and “in the room where it happens.” NABCRMP is intended to help increase the number of Black compliance professionals, build a community and network, and help with career development and growth.
She also provides some great insights about what is happening right now – both with corporate statements and with actions and next steps. And, we also discuss how allies and others, including the GWIC community can help to support Black E&C professionals and NABCRMP.
Join the Great Women in Compliance community on LinkedIn here.
Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast which takes a deep dive into a compliance related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. In this episode Matt Kelly and Tom Fox take a look the recent enforcement action by New York banking regulators against Deutsche Bank, which resulted in a $150 million penalty for its business dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. The matter is full of corporate miss-steps, compliance failures, corporate governance disasters and presents a cautionary tale for every compliance professional.
Resources
See Matt’s blog post, Deutsche Bank’s Many Epstein Failures on Radical Compliance.
