MyComplianceOffice Blog

What are the most significant pressures facing compliance programs in 2021? And where are the largest constraints? An audience of Chief Compliance Officers and General Counsel were asked those questions during the during the webinar Compliance Budgeting: Reducing Risk by Doing More With Less.

The aftermath of the political unrest at the U.S. Capitol last week has seen many Financial Services firms putting the brakes on political contributions and reviewing their political donations policies. With the industry already expecting stricter rules and regulations in the new administration, it’s critical that firms have a solid understanding of the impact of political contributions on their organizations.

A recent Deloitte study found that organizations surveyed indicated that that as their compliance programs mature, they are increasingly being asked to ‘do more with less’. Compliance teams must constantly balance meeting regulatory requirements with managing costs and increasing efficiency.

2020 was a different year, but some things never change. MCO once again hosted several webinars to update compliance and risk professionals on the latest regulations, enforcements and industry best practices. Here are some of the highlights of what we learned from our expert speakers in 2020.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently released their Statistical Summary of 18-Month Campaign Activity of the 2019-2020 Election Cycle. The data shows that the 2020 election cycle has so far seen record-breaking political donations across the board.

 This unprecedented level of contributions combined with stringent regulations, low donation thresholds, and past history of strict enforcement actions means that Pay-to-Play compliance needs to be a top-of-mind concern for firms of all sizes right now.