GRC, UNPLUGGED AND UNSCRIPTED

The role of a compliance officer has come along way since 1999, when I first started. I was a regulator at that point, heaven forbid! The last few months have seen an accelerated shift and this towards a much broader, but more complex compliance environment. What to do?

“Uptight, rules orientated, sometimes pedantic and often obstructive and frankly rather dull, perhaps even painful”.

Humm...

One of my former colleague's description of compliance and what being a compliance officer is probably like.

Of course, as a professional in this area, I would have to disagree, but the reality is that even now, in 2020, this is a view held by many.

This doesn't help our cause, this doesn't move us forwards in our objectives and it certainly makes for a challenging working day.

But we can't sit back and simply blame others, we have to take ownership of the issue...commit to do something about it.

It's our job, as compliance officers, to change this,

To move it,

To push it,

To drag it, if required...

...and this through education, support, encouragement and cultural change.

Trouble is this is not easy.

There are may difficulties with this, not least the feeling often of isolation, of being the lone voice in a sea of skepticism.

We all need a helping hand at some point.

In this vein, Mathew Beale, of Comsure Group in Jersey and I are going to do our bit of contributing to this shift.

We are going to enliven the debate that surrounds all aspects of governance, risk and compliance and how these need to be pushed up the agenda within organisations.

Our method might be slightly unconventional, but this is largely because of the nature of the problem and indeed the world will are now inhabiting.

We are launching,

Perrin and Mathew, Unplugged GRC [link to registration page]

“Taking GRC, challenging it, humouring it and pushing it forwards.”

We would describe ourselves as the two bookends on either side of a GRC [Governance, Risk and Compliance] library. 

We agree on somethings, disagree on others, and can be slightly controversial, whilst trying to put the ‘oomph’ back into compliance. 

We could well be discussing:

Why does Guernsey issue more financial sanctions than Jersey – is it because Jersey firms are better?

What can we all learn from the EU's proposal to blacklist Mauritius?

With the current concerns and pressure on e-gambing firms to act with ‘Social Responsibility’, what can they learn from the financial services industry when it comes to ‘conduct’ and ‘treating customers fairly’?

With the world shifting as fast as it is,

With the role of 'compliance officer' moving equally as quick,

With the regulatory environment getting tougher,

With regulators keeping an ever closer eye, and

With culture, human behaviour and values becoming increasingly important,

We want you to join us,

We want to do our bit,

We want to contribute,

We want to collaborate,

We want to take ownership. At least in part.

All organisations have a 'culture of compliance', the questions are,

What does that look like in your organisation? and

Is it where you want it to be?

Note

[I thought hard about whether this constituted marketing, as you know I have promised to keep marketing out of my blog. Given that this event is free, it's not part of my services I offer to clients, and that its focus is on contributing to our industry and moving it forwards, I considered it to be 'okay' to include this - If you feel that I have stepped across what you expect, please feel free to let me know - This blog is for you after all - Thank you]