Enterprise Compliance Risk Management

Preface

The first known compliance breach and regulation violation is that of Adam eating the forbidden apple. Since then, multiple compliance breaches have occurred, with challenging to catastrophic outcomes. Banks and financial services are more vulnerable to the effect of breaches and their consequences, given that they deal in the financial well-being of individuals and the economy. It is slowly dawning on the stakeholders of the industry that proactive management of compliance and the associated risks will be a business multiplier.

Compliance risk management, as a distinct subject, in banks and financial services is young and evolving. Complying with authority, in a narrow sense, has been in place for ages now, but the many dimensions and nuances added due to the exponential increase in the complexity of the financial world have greatly expanded its scope and have brought it to center stage. The creation and elevation of the role of chief compliance officer—the journey from a dusty table in a corner of the office to a place at the C level executives table in the boardroom—speaks volumes about this transition. However, the systemic integration of compliance into the business and strategic fabric of the organization is yet to happen.

In the face of an anemic global recovery and lack of alignment of business models with active compliance, this field justly demands that it be treated as a discipline in its own right—more so now than ever. There is insufficient literature and ...