British Standards Institute (BSI), the UK’s national standards body, has brought together key stakeholders from the UK financial services sector to develop a standard for compliance teams. The standard will set out a common methodology, process and good practice which can be adopted by compliance teams in retail and wholesale financial firms.
The standard will be voluntary but will seek to complement existing regulation. It will enable organisations to demonstrate regulatory compliance and assurance more easily through a consistent, transparent, auditable approach. Unlike professional qualifications, the standard will not focus on individual competencies, but on business and operational processes.
Compliance with the standard is expected to help reduce the risk of compliance failures and offer greater reassurance to senior management and stakeholders that regulatory requirements are being met and managed appropriately. It will also enable better monitoring of systems and processes within a compliance team and promote recruitment of appropriately competent and experienced staff.
Mike Low, director of standards at BSI, said: “Once published, this standard will provide a robust and consistent framework within which an organisation will be able to administer and manage its compliance programme, providing reassurance to senior managers, regulators and customers by reducing the risk of compliance failure. BSI is delighted to bring together the financial services industry in a proactive response to events in the financial world.”
Angela Knight, CEO of the British Bankers’ Association, said: “This is an interesting and challenging initiative which should improve efficiencies between and amongst compliance teams across the financial service industry and the BBA welcomes its development.”
Earlier this year BSI worked with Complinet, a provider of connected compliance solutions to the global financial services industry, to conduct a market survey which demonstrated the compliance community’s support for the initiative.
A draft of the standard will be available for public comment in Spring 2010 with publication expected late 2010.
