The Most Important Compliance Best Practices You Need to Know

The Olympus accounting fraud was one of the biggest incidents of corporate governance failure in 2011. This article looks at how the event came to be, suggests measures that could have prevented it and summarizes the lessons learned in the wake of the scandal.

If audit is to be effective, the internal audit team concerned should appraise the banks’ internal controls, risk management systems and governance mechanisms dispassionately.

This article looks at how banks can assess the effectiveness of their audit functions. It also gives the Basel Committee's recommendations for best practices to be followed.

The passing of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act required US banks to ensure that their customers' information and records are kept in the strict confidence. As online banking operations evolved, the need arose for privacy requirements to be encoded in a privacy notice or policy on bank websites. This article explains the best practices that banks should follow in order to ensure regulatory compliance.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is the prudential regulator of credit unions. Some companies regulated by APRA also attract the provisions of the Corporations Act and the ASX listing rules. However, many, including credit unions, are not listed. Those that have issued debentures attract the provisions of the Corporations Act.

This article details the best practices credit unions can follow in order to ensure compliance.

The use of social media by businesses to promote their products and services is increasing. Banks around the world are doing the same as well. But how can banks, specifically US banks, ensure they are compliant with current regulations when using social media channels?

This article explains the best practices US banks can follow when implementing social media usage strategies and policies.

On December 10, 2010, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued Sound practices for backtesting counterparty credit risk models. What are these models and the best practices for ensuring compliance? Read this article to find out.

Risk appetite is a key element in the successful execution of risk management programs. This article explains how companies can develop, monitor and communicate risk appetite.

2011 proved to be a busy year for the SEC in terms of the regulatory decisions it had to make and the cases it brought against non-compliant organizations. The agency itself was subject to intense scrutiny for its document management process violations. This article details the five biggest SEC cases of 2011 and also outlines best practices that companies can follow in order to ensure compliance.

Australia’s legal framework to detect and deter money-laundering and terrorism, namely, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) lays down the obligations that are supervised and regulated by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

This article gives the best practices to be followed in order to comply with these regulations.

The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) created the Advanced, Risk-Responsive Operating Framework (ARROW) framework to:

1. identify main risks to FSA objectives;
2. measure the importance of those risks;
3. mitigate those risks, depending on size; and
4. monitor and report on the progress of the complete risk management process.
    

This article provides best practices companies can follow in order to comply with the ARROW framework.

The Bribery Act 2010 (UK) makes bribery a criminal offense and follows the benchmark set by the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The Act makes bribery of foreign public officials an offense. It extends beyond company employees to include third parties acting on behalf of a company.

This article gives the best practices that multi-national companies can follow in order to achieve compliance.

'Internal Control: Guidance to Directors' ("the Turnbull guidance") sets out best practice on internal control for UK listed companies, and assists them in applying section C.2 of the UK Corporate Governance Code.

This article outlines best practices that companies can follow in order to comply with the Turnbull Guidance.

Almost 30 European countries have adopted Common Reporting (COREP), the prudential reporting framework for credit institutions and some investment firms. This article gives the best practices to be followed in order to comply with COREP requirements.

A Suspicious Activity Report or SAR is an essential requirement in order to ensure compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering Law (AML) requirements. It is required by law to be filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or FinCEN, part of the US treasury department.

Read this article to find out what makes an effective SAR and best practices for writing one.
 

The Solvency II Directive lays down the amount of capital that insurance companies in EU must hold in their reserves so that the risk of insolvency is reduced. The legislation aims to unify the EU insurance market into a single entity and enhance consumer protection. Solvency II was approved by the European Parliament on 22nd April, 2009 and is scheduled to come into effect from 1 January, 2013.

This article describes the best practices to be followed in order to comply with Solvency II's quantitative requirements.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the consolidated Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc (FINRA) rules governing know-your-customer and suitability obligations. The effective date has been set to July 9, 2012. FINRA is the successor to the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD).

This article describes the best practices to comply with FINRA's proposed Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rule.

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) (partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center), the most common victim complaints in 2010 in USA were non-delivery of payment/merchandise, scams impersonating the FBI and identity theft.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has issued guidance on safeguarding customers against E-mail and Internet-Related Fraudulent Schemes. This article describes the best practices that can be followed in order to comply with the FDIC guidance.

The proposed Suitability Rule 2111 of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is modeled after the former NASD Rule 2310 (suitability) and requires that a (brokerage) firm "have a reasonable basis to believe that a recommended transaction or investment strategy involving securities is suitable for a particular customer. This belief should be based on the information about the customer's investment profile obtained through reasonable diligence."

This article describes the best practices to comply with FINRA's Suitability Rule 2111.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act was signed into law by President George Bush in December 2003. This Act incorporates and extends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The enactment of the FACT Act was necessitated by the fact that FCRA’s pre-emption provisions were due to expire in December 2003.

This article describes how FACT improves upon the FCRA.

In 2003, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted audit committee requirements which prohibit the listing of any security of an issuer that is not in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002).

This article describes the best practices that Audit Committees can follow in order to ensure SEC compliance.