The Compliance Program Guide

What makes a financial services compliance program effective?

Introduction

An effective Compliance Program should form part of a broader risk management program aligned with the principles of sound risk management and good corporate governance and be capable of detecting and preventing compliance risk.

An effective Compliance Risk Management Program

A ‘Compliance Program’ refers to the frameworks, structures, processes, and controls that an institution implements to manage and mitigate compliance risks in their day-to-day activities.

Well governed organizations have strong risk cultures including a culture of compliance that is set at the very top.

The Compliance Program plays a key role embedding and sustaining the desired behaviours and ethical conduct required for a culture of compliance.

An effective Compliance Program also supports an ongoing innovation and agility in the organization and ensures that it can execute its strategy and achieve its growth objective whilst maintaining a set of controls that achieves compliance with regulatory obligations.

The elements of a Compliance Program

Organizations must adopt a holistic and structured approach to ensure effective governance and regulatory adherence. This approach is informed by three core principles and implemented through an eight pillar framework that ensures effective challenge, executive oversight and control.