MyComplianceOffice Blog

It’s been an eventful year in Financial Services risk and compliance across the globe. From record enforcement levels to market disruptions to evolving regulations around emerging risks like digital assets and crypto, developments have been coming at compliance professionals at a fast and furious pace.

To keep up with the latest regulatory developments and understand the practical impact on compliance, check out MCO's library of 2022 on-demand webinars for expert guidance viewed at your convenience.

It should come as no surprise to compliance teams that the management of Books and Records is in the regulatory spotlight. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged several large Wall Street firms with widespread record keeping failures. The firms will be required to pay combined penalties of more than $1.1 billion, and also must make substantive improvements to their compliance policies and procedures around books and records.

According to Compliance Expert Elin Cherry from Elinphant, “anyone who’s actually worn the hat of the Chief Compliance Officer is very aware of the concerns of CCO liability.”  When it comes to regulatory liability, the line takes a stop at the CCO. So it’s critical that the CCO is both proactive and consistent with making senior management aware of what’s going on with Compliance within the organization. According to Cherry, rigorous issue reporting combined with regular meetings sets the tone for how your management hears you and opens the door better conversations.

Many of the firms that I work with, both large and small, work with representatives that are independent contractors. I am frequently asked how technology can help firms supervise their independent reps, especially in these days of remote work. The past few weeks have seen FINRA impose significant fines and sanctions against a range of firms for supervisory failures. Firms must have processes in place to monitor activities and mitigate this risk.

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.