Day: August 16, 2021

Categories
Coffee and Regs

The RIA Wild West of Going Independent

The RIA Wild West of Going Independent

 
In this episode, CSS’s Director of Retail Wealth Manager Services, Korrine Kohm and Founder of Transition To RIA, Brad Wales discuss the path to becoming an independent registered investment adviser, best practices to get started on your journey and compliance pitfalls to avoid.
 

 

About Our Guest Speakers:

Korrine Kohm is CSS’s Director of Retail Wealth Manager Services. Prior to CSS, Korrine was the Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Operations at Estabrook Capital Management where she was responsible for all compliance functions of this SEC-registered, $2.1B investment advisory firm. Korrine began her regulatory career while working at Allied Irish Bank (NY) in the Operations Department where she was a key member of AIB’s Compliance Committee, responsible for ensuring compliance with Federal and State regulations. An active member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals for over 10 years, Korrine earned her Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional (IACCPTM ) designation in 2006, is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and obtained her Certified Fraud Examiner designation. In addition to her experience in compliance and banking, Korrine began the 16-week intensive training course in Quantico, Virginia, to become a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She has particular experience in crafting customized policies and procedures, developing and implementing compliance programs, conducting on-site compliance reviews, acquisition due diligence reviews, risk assessments and mock SEC examinations. She routinely counsels clients on various regulatory matters, including SEC registration issues, social media and advertising, policies related to diminished financial capacity, disclosures and the annual review process.

 

 
Brad Wales is the founder of Transition To RIA, a consulting firm uniquely focused on helping established financial advisors understand everything there is to know about WHY and HOW to transition their practice to the RIA model. Brad utilizes his nearly 20 years of industry experience, including direct RIA related roles in compliance, finance and business development to provide independent advice regarding how advisors can benefit from the advantages of the RIA model.

 

Categories
Compliance and Coronavirus

Updated UK Financial Action Task Force Guidance


The Kitchen takes a look at the UK’s Financial Action Task Force Guidance on Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment and Mitigation.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

August 16, 2021 the FT Books of the Year edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Vacations one tool in preventing burnout. (NYT)
  • Wirecard shareholders sue the Administrator. (FT)
  • What about just suspending an assessment? (WSJ)
  • FT Business Books of the Year Nominees announced. (FT)
Categories
The Ethics Experts

Episode 073 – Kurt Nemes

In this episode of The Ethics Experts, Nick welcomes Kurt Nemes, seasoned trainer in diversity, equity, inclusion, sexual harassment prevention, gender equity, unconscious bias, ethics, and conflict resolution, to the show.

Categories
The ESG Report

Diligent ESG – Business Information Platform for ESG with Matt DiGuiseppe


 
Matt DiGuiseppe, currently the Vice President of Research and ESG at Diligent, started his career in proxy voting and corporate governance, a nascent ESG space, primarily around asset stewardship, engaging with companies around materials, environment, social, and governance topics. Back then – you were begging companies to come talk to you. The industry has come a long way, and now companies are excited to share the good works they’re doing in this area. He and Tom discuss the changes in the ESG over the last few years and the new tools and technologies that are helping companies implement effective programs.
 

 
A Changing Dialogue
Tom asks, in addition to the name change from Asset Management to Asset Stewardship, what are some of the big changes Matt has seen. Matt explains that one was the availability of data and also a change in the willingness of companies to engage with customers on ESG issues. What once was hour-long conversations about compensation, now are multiple real conversations every year about ESG and how it links to broader strategy and the day-to-day functioning of the organization. He and Tom discuss how asset managers assess companies using the data and the conversations happening about it.
 
Old Systems Aren’t Up to the Task
Business systems that are in use now were really not designed to report on or assess ESG issues. Matt talks about the Embankment Project for Inclusive Capitalism, which brought together investors and other stakeholders to develop new accounting metrics for ESG topics. The participants brainstormed different metrics that would be useful, and the companies in attendance tried to apply them to test the concepts being developed. It turned out that the information was very difficult to obtain from the information systems being used. Diligent is helping to bridge that gap with tools that can gather data from different systems using advanced technologies. Tom has had similar experiences and seen the availability of data increase in his areas of practice as well. –  he always tries to tie it back to overall business efficiency and profitability.
 
Regulatory Issues
Tom notes that the Biden Administration has made a lot of changes around ESG, and Matt talks about how on a global basis you’re seeing regulators almost race to set standards for industries to meet. Regulations are coming to investors as well as companies themselves, which means there is another market for clear, comprehensive data on ESG.
 
How Diligent Is Helping Companies Report on ESG
Matt shares some of the tools and features available from Diligent, and how they can help companies track, monitor, and report on their ESG programs.

  • Automated Data Collection through an RPA –Robotic Process Automation allows you to take unstructured data and turn it into something decision-useful.
  • Collection Calculation and Reporting of Greenhouse Gases in a way that is auditable.
  • Customizable Reports and Real Time Dashboards. Management, boards, and executives all need different amounts and kinds of information.
  • Importing External Data. Being able to see not just your own company’s data, but the public perception of it, as well as how your peers are performing provides a much more meaningful understanding of your metrics. 

 
Final Thoughts
Tom says the three most important things about any compliance program are document, document, document, which he has amended to include data, data, data – and ESG marries these two concepts. Matt agrees and goes on to share some of the ways the Diligent platform is helping make this possible so that if a regulator comes knocking, organizations are confident and prepared.
Resources
Diligent.com
The Diligent Institute