MyComplianceOffice Blog

 As part of the audit process, regulators expect you’ll have quick and easy access to your compliance data. How promptly and thoroughly you can provide the information that auditors request sets the stage for how the regulators will perceive your entire compliance program.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has published its rundown of Examination Priorities for Fiscal Year 2025. The 2025 Exam priorities provide an outline of the questions and proof points that regulators will likely be evaluating during examinations. Reviewing the priorities will allow CCOs to assess their compliance programs to ensure that they have the required policies, procedures and controls in place—and that there are systems in place to easily evidence compliance.

Firms should also take a look at 2024's Enforcement Results for additional insight into areas of SEC focus.

The holiday season will be here before we know it! And that means gifts and entertainment activities that might be putting your organization at risk. It's important to remember that those gift and entertainment compliance concerns don't end when the holidays are over. Taking a mindful approach to both the giving and receiving of gifts and entertainment can help firms stay on top of compliance throughout the year.

Failing to adequately manage Material Non-Public Information (MNPI) remains a high-risk area for compliance, as evidenced by recent actions in the United States, the United Kingdom and across the globe for issues including insufficient insider trading compliance policies, market abuse and failure to effectively manage insider information.

Tracking employee compliance credentials including licensing, registrations and continuing education is a complex endeavor. 

Using spreadsheets to track compliance with employee qualification and certification requirements sounds like a cost-effective and simple way to keep track. But when you factor in all of the potential licenses, registrations and continuing education updates that are potentially applicable to employees of a financial services firm and all of the moving parts that go along with them, it’s a daunting task with much room for error.