In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:
With the DOJ Evaluation’s emphasis on operationalizing your compliance regime, innovation is an important tool for you to use in this journey, yet one that is too often overlooked.We have considered a variety of innovations in compliance; from innovations in structure, use of social media tools and concepts, to new and different ways to consider your internal resources as ways to innovate in your compliance regime. The DOJ has consistently said that a compliance program must evolve. It must evolve to meet new or updated risks, new opportunities or different regulations. Innovation is one of the best ways to evolve. Finally, and perhaps most importantly as a compliance practitioner, always remember that you are only limited by your imagination.
Three key takeaways:
Welcome to the newest addition to the Compliance Podcast Network, Compliance and Coronavirus. As the Voice of Compliance, I wanted to start a podcast which will help to bring both clarity and sanity to the compliance practitioner and compliance profession during this worldwide health and healthcare crisis. In this episode, I am joined by Jared Connor, Subject Matter Expert on CSR for Assent Compliance. We discuss how expectations of compliance will continue during this health crisis.
This year marks the transition period as companies prepare for expanded Responsible Minerals initiative. While key events that were scheduled for this spring have now been cancelled, that does not mean that Responsible Minerals reporting expectations are going away. How can companies understand these changes in reporting and enhanced due diligence expectations without the education and key stakeholder engagement these events provide? The winter of 2021 may well have companies all over the globe scrambling to play catch up and taking some all too costly reputational hits in the market.
This podcast is sponsored by SAI Global. To learn how you can protect your business operations and workforce during these uncertain times, visit saiglobal.com/risk for free resources, expert guidance, and industry-leading technology.
Tom Fox chats with Senior Vice President of Linedata Technology Services, Jed Gardner in this week’s show. They talk about how Linedata’s solution protects companies within the financial sector from cybersecurity risk and how this leads to increased productivity and profitability.
Mitigating Cybersecurity Risk
Jed says that LineData addresses three main challenges within the financial sector. They provide 1) cloud computing solutions to investment firms; 2) cybersecurity that is SEC- and FINRA- compliant; and 3) 24/7 managed support services that are both remote and on premises from their security operations center.
Tom asks Jed to explain how Linedata helps investment firm senior executives address cybersecurity risk. Jed replies that his company is “…providing a level of confidence to senior executives within investment firms that they are protected on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis… The way we’ve been addressing that is by providing levels of service and reporting that do meet the SEC and FINRA requirements, but really push beyond that.” He says that Linedata’s reporting capabilities allow them to use their tool sets to provide a day-to-day view.
Jed comments that categorizing data and defining its locations are important considerations in providing their services to clients. He points out that regulated businesses, in particular, should classify their data and understand where it is, understand the risks, and its impact on the business and stakeholders. As such, businesses should have prevention technologies and policies in place to protect their live and archived data.
360° Risk Analysis
Jed and Tom discuss Linedata’s approach to cybersecurity with vendors down the supply chain. Jed comments that senior executives want to know all the risks to their business since they ultimately become personally responsible for it. A proper risk analysis, like the 360° risk analysis Linedata offers its clients, can unearth hidden risks. Jed describes the 360° risk analysis process. He remarks, “Being able to implement that for businesses and provide feedback on a regular basis allows us to correctly protect them as much as we possibly can, but also gives the senior executives confidence…”
Beyond DDQs
Tom asks, “…can a compliance solution increase business efficiency and productivity leading to an increase in profitability?” Jed responds that using managed services such as Linedata add value by giving time back to key members of staff, who are then able to provide value back into the business. This increased productivity is what leads to increased profitability. He explains how Linedata gives time back to investment firms by taking away the tedious due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) process. He adds that his clients now have time “to look at how to enable the business to be more productive through the more efficient implementation of security and compliance and then, in turn, utilizing that knowledge to then allow the business to operate more freely and more efficiently.”
Resources
Linedata.com
In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:
In our concluding episode in this five-part series, Vin DiCianni and myself discuss proactive monitoring, which demonstrates the benefits of using a third party to fulfill the compliance mandates that have been laid out by the DOJ. Proactive monitoring is directly in the wheelhouse for every compliance program’s three key prongs: prevent, detect and remediate. The Benczkowski Memo and other DOJ pronouncements not only further articulates the road map of what the DOJ expects but also how a company can move through the enforcement process to receive a full declination under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Program.
For more information on Affiliated Monitors, visit their website at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.
Over this series we have explored what companies can do both internally and externally to incorporate the Benczkowski Memo (the “Memo”) and other DOJ guidance into their organizations. In Episode 4, Eric Feldman and I discuss how the DOJ Guidance from 2018 on FCPA compliance can be used as both a sword and a shield. The first thing to recognize is that while laying out the criteria for monitor selection by the DOJ, the Benczkowski Memo also lays out a roadmap of how to avoid a monitor. The Benczkowski Memo lays out several conditions to indicate a situation where a monitor is warranted. The first includes whether the underlying misconduct involved something as systemic as manipulation of corporate books and records or exploitation. If it does this may well be indicia that a company had an inadequate compliance program. This would further indicate that the corporate compliance program is not designed and implemented effectively. The second factor considers whether the misconduct was pervasive across the organization or approved or facilitated by senior level management.
For more information on Affiliated Monitors, visit their website at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.
Vin DiCianni and I have previously considered how companies can use DOJ announcements over the few past year and back to the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, announced in November 2017, to consider what strategies companies can use based upon these documents to internally to bolster their compliance programs and today we consider this same issue from the external perspective. There are several areas from the DOJ guidance which make the use of external resources more impactful for a corporate compliance program.
For more information on Affiliated Monitors, visit their website at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.
This podcast series explores what companies can do both internally and externally to incorporate the Benczkowski Memo (the “Memo”) and other DOJ guidance into their organizations, show how to use a strong compliance program as both a sword and a shield and the benefits of using a third-party to fulfill the compliance mandate. In this episode , I consider with Vin DiCianni how companies can use this information internally to bolster their compliance programs. DiCianni began by emphasizing the DOJ now mandates companies who come before them have an effective compliance program. The days of wheeling in a large stack of documents are long gone and companies need to have substantive evidence on not simply their program but its effectiveness.
For more information on Affiliated Monitors, visit their website at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.
In this podcast series, I visit with Vincent DiCianni, founder and President of AMI, and Eric Feldman, Senior Vice President of AMI. We look at the Department of Justice announcements over the past few years and back to the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, to consider what strategies companies can use based upon these documents. Over this series, we will explore what companies can do both internally and externally to incorporate the Benczkowski Memo and other DOJ guidance into their organizations, show how to use the Memo as both a sword and a shield and the benefits of using a third-party to fulfill the compliance mandate. In this episode, we introduce the Benczkowski Memo and DOJ announcements detailing what they mean for the compliance practitioner.
For more information on Affiliated Monitors, visit their website at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.
