MyComplianceOffice Blog

The main compliance issues facing firms during COVID-19 includes the supervision of employees and business continuity amid uncertainty. The SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) released a risk alert on August 12 to share some observations with registered firms, investors, and the public generally.

Remote work is a part of the current normal in the financial services industry, in the short term and maybe even longer. Arizent, the parent company of American Banker, PaymentsSource, The Bond Buyer and other titles, recently released a survey polling executives to understand how firms are planning the return to the workplace for their employees.

Even as some firms have begun the process of reopening offices, the survey shows that almost 6 out of 10 employers are uncertain about the timing of when employees return to the workplace, and more than half report reluctance from their employees around going back to an in-person work environment. The survey also highlighted that 48% of employees are very interested and 30% are somewhat interested in continuing to work from home. 70% of financial services and 80% of professional services firms polled are likely to allow their employees to continue to work from home if their position allows it.

The FCA is consulting on extending the deadlines for the SMCR for solo-regulated firms until 31 March 2021. This delay will give firms, significantly affected by the Covid-19, time to make the changes they need. 

The coronavirus pandemic has been a significant event, bringing lots of uncertainty to organizations across the globe. Without question there are emerging concerns among compliance officers regarding staff training, resources, controls and the need to keep up with regulatory change. With that in mind, we invited compliance experts to answer three questions and give their views on upcoming regulatory enforcements and compliance in the second half of 2020.

Recent guidance from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs provides best practices for assessing the effectiveness of a program, updating the information provided in 2017 and 2019.

The 2020 updates show an increased emphasis on the management of third party risk. What does this mean for corporations?