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The Compliance Handbook

Evolution of Compliance Programs with Hui Chen


In this special episode, Compliance Evangelist Thomas Fox sits in an engaging and value-packed discussion with Hui Chen, former compliance consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Fraud Section and now chief integrity officer for the Hawaii Attorney General’s office.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
✔️  Hui advocates the need for a very interdisciplinary approach to compliance. Practitioners should become open to learning about social sciences and quantitative and qualitative studies, scientific methods, understanding how research is done, evaluating research outcomes, and evaluating the application of research.
✔️   Realize that people don’t govern their daily lives by reading the codes and the regulationsbut with processes and behaviors, and that’s what should be focused on by using a behavioral-based approach. Give the organization reason, opportunities, or motivations to NOT engage in the behavior you don’t want them to do.
✔️  What differentiates compliance officers is their knowledge and familiarity with the business. It is required to be versatile in understanding every function in the organization and working with them. Compliance professionals need to develop those skill sets to appreciate and understand and measure and be part of what the business does in all of those aspects.
✔️ How do we measure that outcome? By going back to define what you are doing this for, if you do it successfully, what success looks like, and try to find measurements for that, that is important because that goes to whether we have all been wasting our time not with the compliance programs.
Hui is an internationally renowned leader in ethics and compliance. She regularly consults with companies as well as regulatory and enforcement authorities around the world, advising them on the design, implementation, and assessment of ethics & compliance programs. Hui is also a thought leader who collaborates with leading academic researchers and publishes regularly in business and academic journals. 
Chen did this interview entirely in her personal capacity and nothing she said should be attributed to her office.
Connect with Hui Chen
Website: www.HuiChenEthics.com
Twitter @HuiChenEthics
____________________________________________________________________
The “Nuts and Bolts” for Creating a Comprehensive Compliance Plan 
This chapter of this unique work lays out a succinct yet thorough one month approach to operationalizing a company’s compliance regimen. Beginning with a section on what 2020 brought to the compliance landscape, each chapter methodically outlines best practices for everything from establishing policies, procedures, and internal controls, to assessing risk, training, handling investigations, and more. Each day ends with three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost.
Understanding Compliance Responsibility Across the Organization
The Compliance Handbook also takes a close look at all professionals’ roles with compliance responsibility, from Compliance Officers and Boards of Directors to Human Resources, to Internal Audit and Internal Controls and Communications and Training professionals.
In-Depth Treatment of Hot Topics and Trends
The Handbook provides an in-depth look at the latest thinking and trends for the full range of critical compliance topics, including:

  • Compliance and business ventures
  • Third-party risk management
  • The Board’s Role in Compliance
  • Continuous improvement
  • Compliance innovation
  • And much more.

Incorporating Current Government Pronouncements
The Second Edition incorporates the most current government pronouncements governing best practices compliance programs, including the 2019 Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs released by the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice, and its 2020 Update; the updated FCPA Resource Guide 2nd edition; the Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments; and the 2019 DOJ Antitrust Division’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs in Criminal Antitrust.
eBooks, CDs, downloadable content, and software purchases are non-cancellable, non-refundable, and non-returnable. Click here for more information about LexisNexis eBooks. The eBook versions of this title may feature links to Lexis + for further legal research options. A valid subscription to Lexis + is required to access this content.
Order your copy OR copies of The Compliance Handbook: A Guide to Operationalizing Your Compliance Program. Save 25% off.
http://www.lexisnexis.com/fox25
 

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Innovation in Compliance

Building the Podcast Community with Zach Moreno and Rockwell Felder


 
Zach Moreno and Rockwell Felder are the co-founders of SquadCast. Their company’s mission is to make it easier for their clients and their clients’ guests to have meaningful conversations while offering the best quality in remote locations. Zach is a podcaster, an author, a developer, a designer, and an artist. Rockwell is a CPA and an entrepreneur.  Zach and Rockwell join Tom Fox on this week’s episode to talk about collaboration, the podcast industry, and the ways Squadcast helps its clients.
 

 
Origins of Squadcast
Squadcast was founded to fix the problem of poor quality technology within the podcast community. Zach and Rockwell tell Tom how they started the company: “When [Zach] approached me with this idea…I was really ready and the fact that it was rooted at this intersection of podcasting and remote collaboration, which he and I think we’re very fortunate to be exposed to early on in our career,” Rockwell says. Building a product that helps creators collaborate in a high-quality manner just made sense to him and Zach.
 
Growth & Viral Cycle Time
Tom asks how Squadcast has grown. In response, Zach brings up the concept of “viral cycle time.” This metric looks at the technology a podcaster uses, and how quickly they invite someone to collaborate with them on that platform or technology. “For Squadcast, the magic really comes from inviting a guest, connecting with them and recording together and having a flowing dialogue where the technology just kind of fades into the background,” Zach says. The biggest element of Squadcast’s growth comes from other people collaborating and experiencing the platform for themselves. 
 
The Podcast Community
The podcast community is beautiful and welcoming, Zach emphasizes. He tells Tom that when he and Rockwell first launched, they were welcomed with open arms. “The community was so open and welcoming to Squadcast and us as new individuals and that is something that was magical that first time… and also something that we’ve continued to experience,” he says. It is a community of support, and where the creators of podcast shows are all collaborating with each other. “Amongst the content side of things, it’s very open and very collaborative, and I think that’s something that’s pretty unique to podcasting.” 
 
What’s Next
Zach tells Tom that he’s most excited about expanding Squadcast’s team. Hiring different team members and establishing a larger organization is a big focus for this year, he remarks. Maximizing their opportunities in software engineering, marketing, and sales is another venture as well, Zach says. Squadcast will also be launching a new product category called Remote Content Production, which is a foundation that applications will be built on. Another major release from Squadcast also on the way will be its collaboration with Dolby.
 
Resources
Zach Moreno | LinkedIn | Twitter
Rockwell Felder | LinkedIn | Twitter
Squadcast
 
 

Categories
Daily Compliance News

May 25, 2021 the Inside the Deal edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Inside the ATT-Discovery deal. (NYT)
  • Rewritten CEO pay goals not popular with shareholders. (FT)
  • Ghost of Ghosn. (FT)
  • More on RTW. (FT)
Categories
Compliance Kitchen

Honeywell and FLIR Settlements


In this episode, the Kitchen looks into the recent Honeywell and FLIR settlements with the US regulators.

Categories
Big Brains in Compliance

Corruption, Cannabis and AML 2020 with Tom Firestone


 
Tom Fox and Stephen Martin are talking with Tom Firestone, Partner at Baker & McKenzie, in this week’s episode of Big Brains in Compliance. Before joining Baker & McKenzie, Tom worked at the Department of Justice for 14 years, including as Resident Legal Advisor at the US embassy in Moscow. He, Tom Fox, and Stephen Martin discuss trading ethically in Eastern Europe, key issues in the cannabis industry, and what compliance professionals need to know coming out of the AML act of 2020.
 

 
Doing Business in the CIS Region
Stephen asks Tom, “[What] are some of the real issues you see now especially in Eastern Europe?” He responds that the issues are complicated and often relate to secret ownership of business partners by government officials. A lot of his work involved “unpacking these layers of corporate structures to figure out who’s behind them… and can you do business with this person.” He explains to Stephen and Tom why these issues arose and that it requires you to do detailed analysis before moving ahead. Triangular payment arrangements – often a tax evasion scheme – is one red flag compliance officers should look out for, he points out. It boils down to case-by-case investigation, and then making a decision based on your overall judgment. 
 
Cannabis is a Grey Area
“We review every cannabis-related engagement from anywhere in the world… to determine whether or not it’s something we can do legally and whether or not we’re comfortable with it,” Tom says. He comments that federal law contradicts state law in many jurisdictions because those states have legalized cannabis. “You have a very grey legal area of a very grey legal framework,” he remarks. The industry is heavily influenced by politics and many people in the industry come from a criminal background. You have to evaluate all the risks before moving forward, he advises. He predicts that the federal government will adopt a hands-off policy and defer to state law in these issues. It’s a fascinating area for lawyers because it draws on key skills. Ultimately, “it’s about verifying business partners, about verifying the legitimacy of licenses, and it’s about due diligence,” Tom comments. 
 
Prosecuting the Demand Side
Tom Fox asks why Tom advocates for a demand-side penalty to be added to the FCPA. Tom Firestone responds that in reality bribes are initiated as often by the recipient as the giver. Both are equally culpable, so both should be prosecuted. Other jurisdictions, such as the UK, prosecute both sides; however, the US has forgone prosecuting the recipient side mostly for political and diplomatic reasons. Instead, they are going after these bad actors in a roundabout way. 
 
The Future of FCPA and AML 2020
FCPA enforcement is here to stay, Tom Firestone predicts. There are fewer enforcement actions in 2021, but that’s just the natural ebb and flow. Tom Fox asks him what other white-collar priorities he expects from the Biden administration. He responds that he expects to see more sanctions, as well as SEC regulatory, environmental, and antitrust enforcements. Prosecuting domestic terrorists and police brutality are also this administration’s stated priorities. 
 
Tom Fox and Tom Firestone discuss what the AML act of 2020 means for compliance professionals. It comes down to knowing more about who you’re doing business with, Tom Firestone remarks: “It behooves compliance professionals to pay more attention to who their customers are and where they got the money from.” Stephen asks about future trends in compliance. Tom Firestone lists three areas he believes will define compliance in the near future. In the end, good compliance is about good day-to-day ethics, Tom reminds listeners. “If you have good day-to-day compliance with good day-to-day business ethics, you will protect yourself against a full host of risks that are out there.”
 
Resources
Tom Firestone on LinkedIn
Baker McKenzie
tom.firestone@bakermckenzie.com
 

Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

András Bácsfalvi on AML Compliance in Hungary

In this Episode of the FCPA Compliance Report, I am joined by András Bácsfalvi, an AML compliance specialist in Hungary and more importantly host of the podcast Védelmi Vonalak .  In this episode we take a look at the current state of AML compliance in Hungary.  Highlights include:

Hungary is still a largely cash based society. How does this impact AML compliance?

How  Bácsfalvi became interested in compliance.

What is a MLRO and what role does in fulfill in a compliance program?

What are the challenges in anti-money laundering in Hungary?

What are some of the biggest challenges in his current role?

What is your assessment of the current state of AML compliance in Hungary?

The Bácsfalvi podcast Védelmi Vonalak. Why András Bácsfalvi started it, who is the audience?

Resources 
András Bácsfalvi LinkedIn profile
Védelmi Vonalak podcast

Categories
Daily Compliance News

May 24, 2021 the KYC edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • KYC in soccer? (WSJ)
  • New CCO at Circle Internet Financial. (WSJ)
  • EY audit failures in Wirecard laid out. (FT)
  • Inventor of Post It Note passes. (FT)
Categories
Sunday Book Review

Sunday Book Review: May 23, 2021, the Summer Non-Fiction edition


In today’s edition of Sunday Book Review:

Categories
Daily Compliance News

May 22, 2021 the Wirecard Whistleblower edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Should Mike Pence get a book deal? (WSJ)
  • Is Apple too big? (NYT)
  • Austrian Chancellor expected to be charged with corruption. (FT)
  • Wirecard whistleblower. (FT)
Categories
Compliance Kitchen

Moneygram settlement; WTO Trade Cost Index database; UK National Security and Investment Act Investment Act


The Kitchen reviews the recent Moneygram settlement with OFAC and introduces the WTO’s new Trade Cost Index database.  We then touch on the new and far-reaching UK National Security  and Investment Act.