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Sunday Book Review

March 8, 2020, the Tough Times edition


In today’s edition of Sunday Book Review:

Categories
Daily Compliance News

March 7, 2020-the Banned Chinese Investments edition

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In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • What Spanish Flu can teach businesses today about coronavirus. (FT)
  • SXSW cancelled. (NYT)
  • How will coronavirus impact ABC? (WSJ)
  • Will Trump Administration ban all Chinese investments in US. (Washington Post)
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31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Strategies For and With AI in Compliance


Today, I want to consider the article Strategy For and With AI by David Kiron and Michael Schrage. The authors premise is, “A company’s strategy is defined by its key performance indicators. Artificial intelligence can help determine which outcomes to measure, how to measure them, and how to prioritize them.”
Their article had several insights for the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) or compliance practitioner who is looking to employ Artificial intelligence (AI) to help move their compliance program up a level. One of the first key insights is that it is not enough to simply have a strategy for AI. The authors stated, “Creating strategy with AI matters as much — or even more — in terms of exploring and exploiting strategic opportunity. This distinction is not semantic gamesmanship; it’s at the core of how algorithmic innovation truly works in organizations. Real-world success requires making these strategies both complementary and interdependent. Strategies for novel capabilities demand different managerial skills and emphases than strategies with them.”
This makes clear that AI does not supplant the compliance function or the compliance professional, AI complements what the compliance professional can do with the information available to them. Yet the authors believe that when it comes to machine learning, an appropriate compliance strategy is defined by the key performance indicators (KPIs) leaders choose to optimize. This means that a CCO who cannot clearly identify and justify their strategic KPI portfolios has no strategy.
The bottom line? AI plays a critical role in determining what and how compliance KPIs are measured and how best to optimize them. Optimizing carefully selected compliance KPIs becomes AI’s strategic purpose in the compliance function. Understanding the value of optimization is key to aligning and integrating strategies forand with AI and machine learning. KPIs create accountability for optimizing strategic aspirations, including compliance.
Three key takeaways:

  1. Use KPIs to define and measure your innovation strategy.
  2. AI should only supplement, not supplant a compliance professional.
  3. What are your compliance KPIs?

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit this month’s sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
This Week in FCPA

Episode 195 – the Where are you going for Spring Break edition


With travel bans coming to the fore, Jay worries about Spring Break while Tom heads to DisneyWorld. They take a break to consider some of the top compliance articles and stories which caught their eye this week.

  1. The Cardinal Health FCPA enforcement action. Harry Cassin breaks the story on the FCPA Blog. Tom looks at business relationships in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog. Matt Kelly considers management’s role in Radical Compliance. Mike Volkov considers on Corruption Crime and Compliance. Jaclyn Jaeger considers on Compliance Week. (sub req’d)
  2. Is your compliance program effective? Mike Volkov explores on Corruption Crime and Compliance.
  3. The Astros sign stealing scandal and breach of fiduciary duty. Mike Peregrine in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
  4. CRO fined $450,000 individually for failures in compilance. Kristin Broughton in the WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal.
  5. Does conflict rob you of success? Linda Henman in CCI.
  6. Wow moments in compliance, Part 3. Geert Vermeulen continues his 5-part series in Risk and Compliance Platform Europe.
  7. Are you under pressure as a compliance professional. We suggest you read Julie DiMauro in the FCPA Blog (and then listen to both David Bowie and Queen)
  8. How can you manage digital disruption? Jim DeLoach considers in Part 1 of a two-part series on CCI.
  9. On the Compliance Podcast Network, Tom opens a new month by looking at the role of innovation in compliance on 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program.This week saw the following offerings: Monday-What is Innovation in Compliance; Tuesday-Welcome to ComTech; Wednesday-skills needed for innovation; Thursday-the advantage of data in compliance; Friday-strategies for and with AI in compliance. Note 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program now has its own iTunes channel. If you want to binge out and listen to only these episodes, click here. This month’s sponsor is Affiliated Monitors, Inc.
  10. Join Tom in Houston on March 10 as Convercent is hosting a Roundtable, from 12-2 at Steak 48. Our featured speaker will be Philip Winterburn and featured guest is Terri Springer from HP. We will focus on key KPIs for compliance. Information and Registration here.
  11. Join Tom in NYC on Thursday, March 12 as Convercent is hosting an Innovation Forum from 3:30-7 PM at Santina. This event will allow you to network with like-minded individuals within the ethics and compliance space and hear from Thomas Fox and Philip Winterburn as well. For more information and registration click here.
  12. If not Houston or NYC, how about joining Tom in Philly? Join Baker Tilly and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors for the 2020 Fraud and Ethics Symposium. Information here and registration here

Tom Fox is the Compliance Evangelist and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

March 6, 2020-the Remember the Alamo edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Even domestic bribery is illegal (sometimes). (WSJ)
  • Will SCt. reward fraudsters? (Radical Compliance)
  • Will US take over UAW like it did the Teamsters. (New York Times)
  • Maxine Waters calls on Wells Fargo board members to resign and considers referral of former CEO Tim Sloan. (Washington Post)
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ComplianceLIVE

ComplianceLIVE Episode 13: From Chaos to Crisis Management–An Interview with Vanessa Vaughn Mathews


Cailyn and Amanda welcome the Founder & Chief Resilience Officer of Asfalis Advisors, Vanessa Vaughn Mathews to the show.
Listen to the episode:

EPISODE NOTES

Asfalis Advisors is focused on one thing: making your company resilient, no matter what’s thrown at it.
https://www.asfalisadvisors.com/
Check out more episodes and full episode videos at ComplianceLine.com, and don’t forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!
Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

The Compliance Advantage of Data


The Department Of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have both made it clear that they expect companies to be more robust in their use of data analytics in compliance programs. This means using data to not only detect and prevent illegal conduct but also in the remediation prong of any best practices compliance program as well through continuous improvement. Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matthew Miner said in a speech that the DOJ will inquire whether compliance departments have access to internal data that could help them identify misconduct and whether compliance officers make adequate use of data analytics in their reviews of companies under investigation. Since at least 2016 in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action involving Key Energy Services, Inc., the SEC has been communicating to compliance professionals of the need for increased use of data and data analytics in any compliance program.
The new DOJ Antitrust Division released its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs in Criminal Antitrust Investigations (Antitrust Guidance), was the clearest regarding this mandate when it stated, “Does the company use any type of screen, communications monitoring tool, or statistical testing designed to identify potential antitrust violations?” For the anti-corruption compliance professional, this means you need to incorporate a statistical analysis into your ongoing monitoring to see if there are any anomalies which could be indications of FCPA violations.
The bottom line is that it is not if but when you begin to incorporate corporate information into your compliance program to make your compliance program more efficient and your business process run more effectively. My suggestion is that you begin now to identify the data you have access to and the data to which you currently do not have access. Find a way to bridge that gap.
Three key takeaways:

  1. What advantages can data bring to your compliance regime?
  2. Both the DOJ and SEC have said companies need to be using data in their compliance programs.
  3. Data will make your compliance program more effective, your business process more efficient and your company more profitable.

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit this month’s sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

March 5, 2020-the Kid Gloves Treatment edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Trump Administration promised Wells Fargo kid gloves treatment. (NYT)
  • SEC seeks to ease more fund raising rules for start-ups. (WSJ)
  • Is being a frequent flyer bad environmentally? (New York Times)
  • Former Uber exec order to pay Google $179MM, files for bankruptcy. (Washington Post)
Categories
Trekking Through Compliance

Picard-Episode 5, Stardust City Rag


Welcome to a special series of Trekking Through Compliance, the podcast series inspired by my review of Star Trek, the Original Series. In this special series I am joined by another uber Star Trek maven, Megan Dougherty, co-founder of One Stone Creative. In this series we will review the new television show Picard which is currently streaming on CBS.
SPOILER ALERT-Although we will review each episode after it appears, we will discuss each episode in depth.
Episode 5, Stardust City Rag. In a flashback, Seven of Nine mercy-kills Icheb, a fellow former Borg drone saved by Voyager, after his Borg implants have been ripped out by the black-marketeer Bjayzl. In the present, La Sirena arrives at Freecloud, where Raffi discovers that Maddox is being held prisoner by Bjayzl, who intends to sell him to the Tal Shiar. Picard’s crew plan to recover Maddox by staging a prisoner exchange, with Seven (and her Borg implants) as the bait. When Bjayzl recognizes Seven, Seven drops the charade and reveals her true intention: to kill Bjayzl to avenge Icheb. Picard persuades Seven to relent, and Maddox is safely recovered and beamed to La Sirena. Afterward, Seven returns to Freecloud and kills Bjayzl without Picard’s knowledge. In sickbay, Maddox tells Picard what he knows about Soji and Dahj, explaining that he sent them to Earth and the Artifact in order to discover the true motivation behind the synthetics ban. After Picard leaves them alone, Jurati tearfully murders Maddox, saying “If you’d seen what I saw”. Meanwhile, Raffi tries to reconnect with her estranged son Gabriel, who is married to and expecting a child with a Romulan woman but is rebuffed and returns to La Sirena.
Highlights, speculations and questions include: 

  1. The humanity of 7/9 (and Picard).
  2. Is Picard aging too quickly?
  3. What are some of the cookies in this show?
  4. Does revenge belong in the Star Trek universe?
  5. What is Jurati’s agenda? Is she a plant on the team?
Categories
12 O’Clock High-a podcast on business leadership

Jeffrey Hayzlett on The Hero Factor


Richard Lummis is on assignment this week so I am pleased to host Jeffery Hayzlett, the Chairman of C-Suite Network (including C-Suite Radio) and Prime Time Television and Podcast Host. Among all these other activities, he is prolific author. Today, we visit about Jeffery’s most recent book The Hero Factor. Highlights of this podcast include:

  1. Why Hazylett wrote this book?
  2. What is Hero Leadership?
  3. What is Hero Intensity?
  4. Values Values Values
  5. Why are a hero’s values so important?
  6. The book has questions, practices pointers and even a self-assessment in the book. Why are these tools include in the book?
  7. Who should read this book?
  8. What is the Hero Club?
  9. Why is Hayzlett so passionate about the Hero Club and Hero Leadership?

Resources
For information about the C-Suite Network, click here
Find out more about The Hero Club, click here
Purchase The Hero Factor here.