During the webinar A Compliance Officer’s Crystal Ball – One Practitioner’s Predictions for 2021, Compliance Expert Mark A. Egert joined me for his take on what will be the most important compliance concerns of the upcoming year.
Mark also answered some excellent questions during the presentation, and there were a few more that we couldn’t get to because of time. I wanted to take a moment and recap of few of the questions and answers.
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.
On April 7 the SEC published two Risk Alerts providing broker-dealers and investment advisors with information on the expected scope of initial Regulation Best Interest enforcement. The guidance indicated that initial exams will focus on evidence that firms have made “good faith” efforts to comply.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented circumstances to the financial services industry and the world around us.
Amy Lynch, CEO of FrontLine Compliance, joined the Human Capital Podcast on March 20 to provide insight on the regulatory impact of the pandemic, emergency relief measures and recent guidance including Form ADV extensions, Fund Board meetings, Business Continuity Plans, and virtual exams.
