MyComplianceOffice Blog

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) and Financial Markets Authority (FMA) recently released their findings on life insurers’ responses to the joint Conduct and Culture Review. The regulators were disappointed by the information provided.  Both the RBNZ and FMA say the insurers have much work to do in order to address weak governance practices and ineffective conduct risk management.  

MCO announced today that Kelly-Ann McHugh has joined the company as the Director of its Asia-Pacific (APAC) business. McHugh will lead the continued growth and development of MCO’s existing APAC operations and its expanding customer support team in Singapore. 

Compliance is expensive. But non-compliance can cost you even more. Businesses paid nearly $26 billion in compliance-related fines globally in 2017, aside from the severe reputational damages that accompanied those monetary losses. That’s according to a recent article in Forbes by Julie Myers Woods, CEO of Guidepost Solutions.

It’s a tricky thing to understand what a high-performing compliance program actually looks like. Aside from activities and checklists and even anonymous tips, a high-performing compliance program must include the human element. Do we, as a company, believe we’re always doing the right thing? Because in the end, that is what compliance is all about.

We’ve been fortunate to work with and have at MCO some of the most respected leaders in the compliance space. And from them, we’ve crafted a few best practices for high-performing compliance programs that everyone can easily put into place.

The CEO of any financial firm will tell you regulatory compliance is one of their organization’s greatest challenges. The compliance part is easy. Regulators tell a firm what to do. Then they must do it or face often severe legal and financial penalties along with reputational damage. It’s HOW to create and implement effective compliance programs in efficient and affordable ways that presents issues for firms.