Day: June 1, 2021

ESG and the Impact of the EU SFDR on U.S. Asset Managers

Post author By Coffee and Regs
Post date June 1, 2021
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ESG and the Impact of the EU SFDR on U.S. Asset Managers

In this episode, CSS’s Head of ESG Marye Cherry sits down with corporate attorney at Scale LLP, Adam Johnson to discuss the evolving ESG landscape from the U.S. perspective, including the impact of the EU SFDR on U.S. asset managers and the U.S. regulatory position on ESG.

About Our Guest Speakers:

Marye Cherry is the EU Regulatory Counsel and Head of ESG at Compliance Solutions Strategies (CSS). With more than 10 years of legal and compliance experience, Marye specializes in transparency and regulatory reporting issues in the financial services industry, including sensitive industries and ESG. At CSS, Marye focuses on European financial regulations that affect fund managers’ operations worldwide and helps translate those requirements into automated reporting solutions.

Adam Johnson advises individuals and institutions on investment and corporate law. He has more than twenty years of experience working with clients around the world on public and private investment vehicles, financial marketing and distribution, regulatory and governance issues, and capital markets transactions. He has worked with professional asset managers, high net worth individuals, and corporations in the public and private equity markets. He helps clients strategize on business development, negotiate complex agreements, navigate changing regulatory frameworks, address compliance obligations, and find efficient operational solutions. Working as both outside and in-house counsel, he has helped companies around the world meet their strategic business, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance challenges. Prior to Scale LLP, Adam advised business heads and senior management as a leader in the legal departments of publicly listed investment management firms. He has lived and worked in Asia and is proficient in Mandarin Chinese.

Tags asset management, compliance, ESG, financial services, fintech, investment management, regtech, regulations, regulatory compliance, SFDR, sustainable finance, sustainable investing

The Compliance Life

Gabe Hidalgo-Academic and Early Professional Career

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Post date June 1, 2021
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The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Gabe Hidalgo, Managing Director at K2 Integrity and former CCO. Hidalgo is a native New Yorker and first generation American which form a big part of how and why he eventually found his way into compliance. After law school he worked for in-house for an insurance company and later as an insurance defense lawyer. Both experiences gave him insights into the importance of language in interpreting insurance policy coverage issues and how to marshal arguments to persuade juries at trial.
Resources
Gabe Hidalgo LinkedIn Profile
Gabe Hidalgo K2 Integrity Profile
K2 Integrity

Tags Gabe Hidalgo

The Wirecard Saga

Know When To Hold ‘Em, Part 1

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Post date June 1, 2021
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Welcome to The Wirecard Saga, literally one of the leading sources on all things Wirecard. In this series, Mikhail Reider-Gordon, Managing Director of Institutional Ethics & Integrity at Affiliated Monitors takes a look at the biggest financial scandal in post-war Germany from a variety of angles. In this ‘Know When To Hold ‘Em, Part 1’ Episode, she continues her exploration of those persons, entities and governments who have been damaged, some beyond repair, by Wirecard and the nuclear fallout from its scandal. Some of the highlights include:

Braun demands Chubb pick up the tab
Traina the PEP & Cheap Champers
PR Guru reps St Markus the Innocent
Jaffé tells shareholders ‘gimme’
EY lawsuits pile up
Rodl Report: EY orders Bitcoins & breathalyzers
EY Schtums up
Your PA doesn’t want to hear about your weekend
Lawyer: Who knew clients could lie?
BND: We know nothing
Whistling in the Dark
Bribery Charges Filed
Go to Part II of this Episode…

Tags Wirecard

Survive and Thrive

What do you do when you are given 2 weeks to close a JV?

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Post date June 1, 2021
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Welcome to SURVIVE AND THRIVE, the newest addition to the Compliance Podcast Network. This is a podcast where we unpack compliance, crisis disasters and walk you through all the red flags which appear, and give you some lessons learned going forward. This show is hosted by the Compliance Evangelist Thomas Fox and Kortney Nordrum, Regulatory Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Deluxe Corporation.
Today’s episode is all about JOINT VENTURES. New sets of compliance risks arise for companies subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Suppose that you are given two weeks to close a joint venture, what are concrete steps you can take to protect the organization and help the joint venture do business ethically and profitably?
Key steps & takeaways discussed in the episode:
✔️ Set expectations and figure out what Compliance is exactly in charge of handling. Initiate M&A due diligence process and send DD questionnaire to the integration/JV manager.
✔️ Brief the team on the advanced timeline and reprioritize DD based on risks.
✔️Learn key steps to expect from outside counsel and what can you do in-house as well?
○ Counsel:
· Responsible for drafting agreements
· Need to advise on government approvals and registration/licensing if needed
· Deep dive into the JV candidate company and their Board/Executive leadership
· Antitrust management – with JV candidate and their counsel
· Engage a third-party diligence organization to do boots-on-the-ground diligence in foreign partner country
○ In house:
· Compliance, privacy, and risk diligence – including questionnaires, interviews, meetings, and reviewing evidence and documents provided by the JV candidate
· Training the internal JV team on what they can and can’t do throughout diligence (what they can disclose, ask about, and plan for)
· Preparing readouts and diligence summaries for the Board
✔️It always pays to be prepared. People don’t always have the resources needed. Putting together a toolkit that you can rely upon when the timing is condensed will be helpful. Having a backpack full of tools for M&A, a questionnaire already equips you to respond to a speedy timeline.
✔️Build a cadence with your business, your CEO, your executive leadership that keeps you in the loop. Be the trusted business adviser who masters compliance, ethics, and legal requirements. Make it clear that your business savvy and proactively address concerns; then it will build your credibility. Also, do not be a panic button. Do not raise a red flag unless you need to raise a red flag.
✔️ Never stop engaging in due diligence. You never stop communicating, learning, finding out, and obtaining information. Data is a two-way street. It is both inbound and outbound. Always prepare for the unexpected when the unexpected hits, what do you do because you have prepared so it’s not unexpected.
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Do you have a podcast (or do you want to)? Join the only network dedicated to compliance, risk management, and business ethics, the Compliance Podcast Network. For more information, contact Tom Fox at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

Tags Joint Ventures, JVs

Innovation in Compliance

A Digitally Fluid Future with Chenthil Eswaran

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Post date June 1, 2021
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Chenthil Eswaran is the Practice Head of Enterprise Solutions at Aspire Systems and is Tom Fox’s guest this week on the Innovation in Compliance Podcast. Chenthil leads go-to market strategy, implementation, and is a thought leader in CX Transformation. Prior to his current role at Aspire, he held application development, application maintenance, and managerial positions. On this week’s show, he and Tom are talking about cloud and data storage, data security, and how compliance professionals can create a digitally fluid future for their companies.

Cloud Adoption
The pandemic caused businesses that were initially hesitant to engage in digital transformation to upgrade their operations. Chenthil tells Tom it’s a perfect time to take stock of the impact of cloud power on business applications. “We need a collaborative tech ecosystem that allows both systems and cloud applications to work in unison,” he remarks. “That way you get the ability to shift certain workloads to the cloud-based on the evolving demands. Basically, you should be able to prepare for the future without complicating the present.”

Best of Breed, All in One
There are two approaches to SAAS-based solutions: best of breed, and all-in-one. Best of breed describes a solution that is specific to certain types of work processes. Best of breed helps solutions establish a digital transformation strategy that’s decentralized, and for enterprises with multiple locations and time zones. All-in-one means looking for comprehensive solutions which cover the requirements pertaining to a specific industry. It is preferred by highly centralized enterprises, and the solutions are fully integrated.

Digitally Fluid Future
Chenthil tells Tom that the pandemic changed his company’s approach to business by essentially forcing them to change their mindset. Their focus became more on remote agility, scalability, and innovation. “We are now very keen on being prepared for a digitally fluid future which may call for 100% remote working efficiency anytime,” he says. Unless companies are aggressively going digital, they will be unable to meet the aggressive demands of their customers.

What’s Next
Tom asks Chenthil what compliance officers and executives need to think about as digital businesses evolve in the coming years. “They need to be more agile and tuned in to modern user demands,” Chenthil says. Autonomous business applications will play a big part in this as well, as this will be the future. “The decentralization of security controls will take prominence, and it will help enterprises keep remote issues undercurrent,” Chenthil tells Tom.

Resources
Chenthil Eswaran | LinkedIn
Aspire Systems

Jamming with Jason

Improving Relationships with Zach Olinger

Post author By Jamming with Jason
Post date June 1, 2021
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This is another tables are turned episode, where I am interviewed by Zach Olinger for his #podcast The Real Zach Olinger Podcast.
We talk about relationships, what can go wrong, how to improve them and some practical tips that you’ve probably never considered when thinking about relationships both professionally and personally.
Listen in at: http://www.jasonmefford.com/jammingwithjason/