Delivering Effective Compliance Reports

Session 1: Introduction and Overview

• Effective systems and controls – What the rules require us to do
• How regulators see a firm’s Monitoring function
• Why Monitoring should be the Senior Manager’s best friend
• Negotiating organisational structures – getting to where you need to be
• Keystones of effective monitoring
• Evidence management
• Case Study: When one firm tried to scale back their Monitoring and Testing activity – differences between the UK and US expectations.

Session 2: Producing the report

• Role modelling – embracing the standards you defend
• Titles and templates
• Starting Strong – the Executive summary
• Securing clarity of scope – what’s in and what’s out
• Approach – narrative, bullets, Appendices
• Effective Report writing for the Reader – how do we manage avoidable conflict
• Findings and priorities – how detailed are your Recommendations on remediation?
• What needs action and what is noted for compliance management information
• What else should you recognise and note – people, situations, current change, self-identified issues?
• Case Study: How one firm ruined the business’ engagement with Compliance Monitoring

Session 3: Issuing the Report

• Who receives it and why – what is their role and which RACI categories should we consider?
• Draft or final version
• The value of management responses – the role they play in record keeping and subsequent discovery of records
• Version control – especially in times of challenge
• Close the sale – gaining commitment to action with expected standards and timescales
• Case Study: How one firm stripped away the emotional response to reported findings

Session 4: The Follow-Up and Close Out (before the cycle begins again)

• Planning your verification of progress
• Escalation – what, when and to whom – protocols agreed in advance
• Trust but verify – a risk-based approach?
• Whistleblowing
• How findings and actions affect the Residual Risk ratings of identified risk topics
• Demonstrating dynamic compliance risk mapping which impacts future monitoring schedules

Course Close – summary, questions, feedback

With over 20 years of training experience in financial services, our compliance report writing course trainer is well-placed to support you across a range of compliance-related topics. He is a former Head of Education for HSBC covering the UK and Europe, responsible for regulatory and financial crime-related compliance learning. His time at HSBC was during intense scrutiny from regulators and government functions during the bank’s Deferred Prosecution Agreement.

Other roles include leading the Monitoring and Testing programme for a UK Wealth Manager, and Senior Vice President responsible for Global Risk & Compliance training at a US-based bank. He also worked in the Insurance Firms division at the Financial Conduct Authority, or in the FSA - (Financial Services Authority) days where he was the divisional expert for the rules and outcomes required under the Training & Competence handbook.

The HSBC role, along with five years at Barclays in their Private Clients and Wealth functions, has seen him work with retail, commercial, wholesale and private banking channels. Since leaving HSBC, he has worked with the compliance, HR and operational teams of firms to enhance their regulatory understanding, as well as delivering content across private equity firms, investment houses, banks and wealth managers. He regularly delivers core programmes for TISA and the Investment Association.

Our trainer is a former member of the Investment Management Association Training & Education Committee and won the Thomson Reuters award for “Most Effective Compliance Training at a Regulated Firm” in 2010.

• Understand what an effective report looks like.
• Recognise how to adapt the compliance report structure based on the culture of the firm.
• Have a good practice tool against which they can assess their current template and make relevant improvements.
• Understand how to validate their compliance assessment report on priority findings and ensure the report reflects that prioritisation.
• Appreciate the timeline of events and actions required to create effective delivery and maintain momentum on change.
• Build and enhance effective relationships between the first and second lines of defence.

• While based on FCA expectations, our compliance report writing training course is easily customisable for an international audience and we have engaged with clients operating under BaFIN and CSSF frameworks. We can strip out UK references and focus on effective practices in a compliance regulatory framework environment as required.
• Rather than simply deliver a session designed for the classroom via virtual meeting tech, this course has been designed from the ground up for a virtual experience. The use of Polls and Whiteboards helps participants to truly feel part of the experience and to calibrate their approach regarding others.
• We put the compliance report front and centre as tangible evidence the compliance function has delivered on its duty to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of organisational controls.
• It is not about writing a report for the sake of it – it is about communicating important compliance issues effectively and creating motivation for change.
• All our trainers are experts on this topic enabling them to share their past real-life experiences with delegates which we find enhances and improves the learning experience considerably.
• We are confident that we know this subject well and whatever your needs, refresher or an introduction, we are certain we can help you.
• We are always judged by our results which speak for themselves and the feedback received from previous delegates has always been excellent.

Our compliance report writing training course is designed for those creating or overseeing the production of reports detailing the levels of business compliance. That might be first-line risk owners and their teams or dedicated compliance resources in the second line of defence. Reports are the output of monitoring and testing work and so anyone involved in those activities would find this session useful.

This interactive compliance report writing course provides you with a detailed introduction (or refresher) on how best to design and deliver effective compliance monitoring reports. While structuring the report is hugely important, the thought around the end-to-end process and positioning this with key stakeholders can make the difference between a great report that goes nowhere and a great report that affects valuable change both in terms of controls and procedures but also in mindset and culture.

With compliance case studies included to illustrate good and poor practices in how firms have responded to the regulatory compliance reporting requirements of monitoring, the topic is brought to life and provides the sufficient foundation to begin assessing and improving your current approach. It is primarily suitable for second-line staff responsible for delivering the results of compliance monitoring activity but may also be of interest to audit teams and other staff e.g. learning and development looking to support those writing these reports.