Innovation in Compliance with Tom Fox

In this concluding Episode V of special five-part podcast series on an innovative approach to managing third party risk we consider how to use of this information going forward. I have been joined by James Gellert, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rapid Ratings International, which is sponsor of this special series. Our conversation has been on helping companies manage their third-party supply chains through financial health. The Rapid Rating approach is incredibly innovative, with both a series of products and services that should be considered by the compliance practitioner. In this Episode 5, we discuss the supply chain efficiency premium. Some of the highlights include:At the end of the day, companies want to continue working with their suppliers. The more companies can help them through any times of difficulty, the more it benefits everyone.This isn't just about triage and problems. It’s about creating the strongest chain of suppliers in one ecosystem that can grow with your business.The ability for compliance/procurement/credit and other cross-functional areas to have seamless communication of data/analytics and findings.It is about connecting the information dots to inform workflow and operations.

We are on Episode IV of special five-part podcast series on an innovative approach to managing third party risk. This week I am joined by James Gellert, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rapid Ratings International, which is sponsor of this special series. Our conversation will be on helping companies manage their third-party supply chains through financial health. The Rapid Rating approach is incredibly innovative, with both a series of products and services that should be considered by the compliance practitioner. In this Episode 4, we discuss some of the challenges Gellert sees in 2019 and going forward. Some of the highlights include:You can’t manage risks that are unknown. It’s not just about being able to identify the risks. It’s being able to action the data that emerges, and linking all those through the business units of a company. There are increasing number of risks and complexity of business relationships.Changes in capital markets and rising interest rates with a complicated geopolitical backdrop make it difficult to gain full risk visibility.There is growing concern for protecting brand reputation.

We are on Episode III of special five-part podcast series on an innovative approach to managing third party risk. This week I am joined by James Gellert, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rapid Ratings International, which is sponsor of this special series. Our conversation is about helping companies manage their third-party supply chains through financial health. The Rapid Rating approach is incredibly innovative, with both a series of products and services that should be considered by the compliance practitioner. In this Episode 3, we discuss the issue of third-party expansion. Highlights include:The definition of “third party” is expanding, which only makes life more complicated for anyone trying to do third party risk assessments.There are a lot of risks that people can't get around to managing because they can't even identify which companies are taking risks.The definition of third parties has expanded out to nth tier, adding an additional layer of complexity to risk management. All of this is coupled with an increasing reliance on third parties to deliver business critical products and services.

In this special five-part podcast series on innovation in managing third party risk, I am joined by James Gellert, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rapid Ratings International, which is sponsor of this special series. Our conversation will be on helping companies manage their third-party supply chains through financial health. The Rapid Rating approach is incredibly innovative, with both a series of products and services that should be considered by the compliance practitioner. In this Episode 2, we discuss the issue of criticality in supply chain and how to assess and manage that risk. Highlights include:How has the definition of criticality expanded?What does this mean for the supply chain professional or the compliance practitioner going forward?Innovation allows companies to manage all of those suppliers and all of those risks in a more cohesive way, creating more ways of doing more with less.If you can identify the risk direction of a company, then you’re able to survey a wider spectrum of suppliers and find the best ones to work with.

Welcome to a special five-part podcast series on innovative in managing third party risk. This week I am joined by James Gellert, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rapid Ratings International, which is sponsor of this special series. Our conversation will be on helping companies manage their third-party supply chains through assessing financial health. The Rapid Rating approach is incredibly innovative, with both a series of products and services that should be considered by the compliance practitioner. In this Episode 1, we begin with a discussion of why managing your supply chain risk is so critical in today’s business environment. Highlights include:What is supply chain financial health?Managing supply chain risk is critical in today’s economy.If the suppliers that you’re embedding into your business aren’t resilient or strong for the long term, then you’re baking problems into your ecosystem.How can you work to extend the reach of compliance? By understanding the business imperative and business benefits behind third party risk management.

What do you get when you mix podcasting with the law? Joining us on this episode is Gordon Firemark, an attorney in Los Angeles with a background in entertainment and podcasting law, and a podcaster himself. Find out how you can use podcasting to ethically market your firm, and how to protect yourself legally in this space. The growth of podcasting It’s developed as a really remarkable communications tool but is still underutilized in many ways. It’s very exciting and a great opportunity for lawyers and businesses that are looking to reach their audiences in a different yet very powerful and effective way.Legally, the issues are similar to the media law area: intellectual property, ownership, business entities, partnerships that happened by accident. There was once a major case where somebody filed a patent on podcasting technology, but now it’s been resolved. Hopefully, that opens things up for people to start using it as a medium.A marketing tool Because Gordon does the show every month, that means SEO is fantastic and their website is easily discoverable. Audiences also get to hear your voice, get a sense of who you are, and can hear that you are knowledgeable and an expert in your field. This leads to a lot of international referrals — and not to mention, it’s a lot of fun and a great way to get the word out. Objections and answers Gordon takes on a few common questions would-be podcasters have:“When does podcasting become attorney advertising that’s subject to regulation in my state?”“It takes too much time.”“What if I make a mistake on air?” “I’m nervous about being on the microphone.”Short form podcasts People love short form content. It’s great customer outreach, and it’s a great opportunity for companies to reach their employees with updates, as well. People can listen at their desk, or, since it’s mobile, they can listen on their phone from wherever they are. For example, a CEO could become an even bigger celebrity in his company by doing a five-minute morning podcast!The future of podcastingGordon sees more disputes on the horizon, especially as it concerns the use of third party content. Unlicensed music has become a big issue. Many podcasters don’t understand the legalities of using music for digital streaming, and Gordon is hoping to develop a streamlined approach to licensing music for podcasters to use in their shows.Another thing coming up is ownership disputes. Podcasting is maturing to the point where people are breaking up fighting over the podcasts they started together. We’re going to start seeing cases involving the right of a person to control the use of their name, likeness, and persona.Podfest teaserGordon is speaking at Podfest on a panel with two other lawyers. They’ve broken up the subject matter into different legal issues (e.g. intellectual property, copyright, trademarks and patents, ownership), with a lot of time for Q&A. They’ll also be talking about branding — with a lot of podcasts about things like TV shows and movies, it’s potentially a lot of hot water to fall into. ResourcesGordon Firemark | Entertainment Law Update | Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark | The Podcast, Blog & New Media Producer's Legal Survival Guide

On this episode of the Innovation in Compliance Podcast, we have Patrick Conroy, RegTech Leader and Managing Director at ACA Technology. What does ACA do, what technologies and solutions do they offer, and how can you leverage them to make your compliance programs more strategic, nimble, and proactive? Professional background Patrick shares how he got his start in financial services, to working at the largest global banks in the world, and honing his skills as a compliance practitioner and embracing technology. Through that lens, he started building compliance services and looking at different emerging technologies, as well as focusing on RegTech at the firm. ACA products and services ACA’s solutions are derived from subject matter expertise with tech enablement around it, to help firms develop and architect their overall compliance programs. They focus across a few different verticals: compliance risk, advisory consulting, managed services, education and training, and technology solutions. Patrick goes into detail about each of these verticals, outlining the specific programs, support, and services they offer for each of them.ComplianceAlpha and Compliance ELFCompliance Alpha is ACA’s centralized platform which helps firms mitigate their risks through the efficiencies of synergies, as well as scale the workflows while keeping everything harmonized and transparent at the organizational level. Within the platform are the Compliance ELF, the code of ethics, personal trading, and employee compliance management modules. This moves the actual doing and operationalization of compliance to the front lines at the employee level, where they’re inputting and capturing the data that can later be used by compliance professionals, the board of directors, or senior management in more of an oversight role. All in all, the ComplianceAlpha allows organizations to have the tools at their fingertips to hone in on what’s really important — like detecting fraudulent behavior and mitigating overall firm risks — so they can become a lot more nimble, strategic, and proactive. ResourcesPatrick Conroy | ACA Compliance Group | 6 Ways to Stay Ahead of Financial Regulators with RegTech

Can you pick up misconduct signals from a conversation? Joining us today is Brandon Carl, the Vice President of Product Management at Digital Reasoning. He oversees their product portfolio and brings together research, machine learning, and development for their audio analytics and conduct surveillance, and he’s here to share how artificial intelligence can change the way we do compliance.Digital Reasoning SolutionsDigital Reasoning got its start working with government institutions on identifying bad actors. When they shifted over into conduct surveillance, it was a very natural foray into looking for misconduct or bad actors within financial markets. The key behind all these regulations is to instill confidence in people participating in markets and make sure that the market is protected and liquid and that they’re getting fair prices.Finding signals When you take a look at bad actors in general, you tend to find two buckets of people: 1) Negligent bad actors who don’t have bad intentions, but are probably just unaware of the laws, and 2) Nefarious bad actors who are working to skirt the system and are intentionally engaging in misconduct.When you take a look at them, you will see signals around how people communicate: someone may ask people to “keep things confidential” after engaging in some form of misconduct; if someone is narcissistic, you may hear them boasting after the fact. So the technology not only looks for the act of misconduct itself, but these behavioral signals as well.Passing on the information There are two views of the world that their customers traditionally think of: First, the Alert-Based View, which you can think of as a single communication travelling through time that the algorithm will scan. Second is the Investigations View, where teams will review and investigate the alerts.Now you want to amalgamate the various alerts that have happened over time, and think of those as either weak indicators of misconduct (like boasting), or strong indicators of misconduct (that point to a very specific form of activity). The world has evolved, and we’re realizing our communications say a lot about who we are and what we do.Ongoing Education CreditsIf you’re a compliance professional looking for a convenient and effective way to fulfill your continuing education requirements, check out our 4 hour-long training packages that will keep you up to date with the latest developments in the compliance field.Digital ReasoningBrandon Carl | Website | Twitter | Facebook | Vimeo | Financial Conduct Surveillance | AI Article

Why does accounting have to be so complicated? That was the question today’s guest, Ian Crosby, asked himself. And from that question, America’s largest bookkeeping service for small businesses was born. Ian is the co-founder and CEO of Bench, and he’s talking about taking the grounded route to innovation — and how it’s always about the people. Humble (and frustrated) beginningsIan was a bookkeeper in college and came across the problem of: how is there not a place you can just go on the internet and get perfect bookkeeping out? People have to either figure it out themselves, or hire an expert and have no idea if that person is good or doing it right. Why is there no “Gmail for Accounting”? This is a huge problem that’s been overlooked and he couldn’t get the idea out of his head, so he jumped right into it.The Bench brand of business leadership At a surface level, bookkeeping can seem really ‘back office-y,’ but when people get on top of their finances, they get a sense of direction and feel powerful. He and his team are out to make a difference in the lives of as many human beings as they can, and that’s what it’s really about: the people.So Ian had to discover how he can connect people to purpose, and the cultural principles that really work for them as a team. It’s that culture that allows Bench to have people keep figuring stuff out and powering their growth. It’s not about Ian at all. It’s about the people in the rooms he’s not even in, talking about what the company is going to do next, having the best ideas surface to the top, and having a team that can carry it out successfully. On innovation Innovation isn’t doing new things for the sake of doing new things. As a culture, Bench is very focused on the problems they’re trying to solve — and then what naturally pops out the other end is new. You can’t force innovation. You can just set it up with the right ingredients and let it happen. The importance of simple, effortless, and portable bookkeepingWhat it really comes down to is: you should have this stuff at your fingertips. You need to know if your business is making money, if you’re still going to be making it months from now, how to file your taxes, and so on. But you don’t need to be spending hours of your own effort. Part of being a successful business is having an awesome team around you that can let you do awesome things without you having to put in a lot of effort. Bench rejects the idea of garbage in, garbage out (i.e. that you’re responsible for your books being wrong because you told your bookkeeper the wrong things). The way they’ve built their culture is: we care about your books being right. They take responsibility for your finances the same way Ian takes responsibility for his daughter not running out of the street. Will he let her get run over just because she didn’t look both ways before crossing? Of course not. And you need someone like that on your team. Tips for business leaders Once your business becomes more than just you, it’s all about the people you bring on. Your job must switch from having an awesome strategy to making sure the people and culture are the strongest they can be. That was the point Bench really started taking off. Have a clear understanding of what you’re here to do in the world, have everything come from that understanding, and just do it. That’s integrity and a powerful foundation for all your endeavours.ResourcesIan Crosby | Twitter | Bench

Your organization’s ecosystem is probably bigger than you think, and a big ecosystem presents bigger risks. Dan Kinsella is the Extended Enterprise Risk Management Leader at Deloitte Risk and Financial Advisory, and today we’re talking about managing these risks across the extended enterprise. The “Extended Enterprise” When we think about our organization, we have to think beyond our four walls: the extended enterprise is everything that we’re connected to in our environment.As businesses, we are leveraging more third parties than we ever have. Our objective is to make our organizations better, cheaper, and faster at driving bottom line improvement, and we can do that by leveraging these third parties in a more consistent and cohesive fashion. Types of extended risksForeign corrupt practices, laws, and regulations around the ability to conduct business globally is one of the top risks that global organizations focus on, and next on the list would be cyber or information technology risks.There are usually a baker’s dozen of risks that organizations are focused on, and Dan mentions a few more examples. But the idea is to identify the risks that are most important to you, and create some measure to efficiently understand those risks and how they might impact your organization. Tech to invest inTechnology is going to be a primary way that organizations really manage and monitor these risks. Robotics can automate different monitoring activities. You can use a robotics tool to identify red, yellow, and green risk areas and generate a report that an individual could look through and evaluate. Blockchain can help us much more efficiently exchange risk and control information without manually sending documents back and forth individually between organizations.Other key risks in cyberOver a third of cyber breaches are caused by third parties. It’s not even your organization that’s the problem. It’s a problem caused by your extended enterprise.  Third parties must be vigilant about what’s happening in their technology environment on a real-time basis. The quicker they identify something is going wrong, the less the impact will be, and they need to be resilient enough to recover when something negative happens.Questions to ask: Do your third parties access your networks? And do those third parties have access to critical data? How a board of directors should get involvedIt really begins with the board asking management: “Who are our third parties?”Many times, it isn’t easy to answer right away. Once management crunches the numbers, you may be surprised: a health and life science company that Dan worked with publicly disclosed on a panel that they have over a million third party relationships. Follow it up with, “What risks do those third parties present to us?” Go by the 80-20 rule and focus on the third parties that have the largest potential impact.If we provide some cohesion, we can truly drive value, understand risks better, and have an ecosystem that performs like a symphony to drive better results.ResourcesDan Kinsella | Resetting the Front Line of Defense | Enterprise Risk Management