Compliance Leadership Toward the Revamping of Global Business

Business is revamping, and opportunities are coming up after several months of a recession and lock downs. However, what did not change are the responsibilities and obligations of the Compliance Officers facing eager commercial teams and top management executives that want to recover the losses caused by this global pandemic.

We know that regulatory compliance, in any organization, especially in emerging markets, is complex and it requires expert personnel for its execution and control.
We want to highlight the role of the Compliance Officer and, of course, all their functions, obligations, and responsibilities within the international regulatory framework and top management putting some pressure in the revamping of business and business growth.

Roles and responsibilities

The Compliance Officer is the professional who manages risks with a high standard of integrity, commitment, leadership, effective communication, ability to persuade and inspire others in the organizations and third parties to do the right things all the time.

According to our global experience, the Compliance Officer has 6 essential responsibilities, directly involved in the agenda of the leadership teams:

1. Sustainability. Developing the ethics standard to sustain the business in the long run will allow the organization to always focus on the right track or “bright side of the force.”, including the fight against bribery and corruption. It is the right balance between the aggressive growth and expansion plans and always doing the right thing.
2. Integrity culture. Provide or coordinate continuous training on compliance, including technological and innovation trends that impact the development and growth of the organization. Be responsible for the communication of the Compliance Program to employees, having to disclose any relevant information regarding compliance to companies and deliver the Code of Integrity or Conduct and the policies to which the staff and third parties.
3. Accountability. Perform periodic compliance audits on business partners and third parties to check that business operations and practices are in accordance with the standards and policies of the organization and regulatory framework.
4. Risk Management. Identify the obligations and risks (continuous exercise) to which companies are subject, both from the point of view of regulatory risks in accordance with the operation and the legal framework that the organization is subject to, as well as those guidelines derived from codes, internal policies, and procedures.
5. Controls and monitorship. Implement management indicators and controls that allow to manage and know in a timely manner the materialization of the identified risks derived from its relationships with clients, suppliers, distributors, and external sales representatives, and even lead the analysis of reputational risks and vulnerabilities in the merger and acquisition processes of organizations.
6. Openness and transparency. Establish and lead autonomous and independent complaint mechanisms for the organization’s staff and third parties and guarantee non-retaliation by means of a comprehensive investigation (consider specialized external advice) to always detect the root cause to eradicate other people´s behavior to the culture of ethics and integrity of the organization.

Compliance: the strategist and advisor to the organization.

The Compliance Officer is a leader immersed in different areas and issues. Throughout the organization there are possible risks, frauds, corrupt acts, and dangers that violate the organization policies and procedures all the time. However, organizations are in the mist of the revamping the global economy and new Compliance risks are arising.
Business growth is key, more complex in emerging markets, but understanding the market dynamics and risks is a journey that need to be supported by the Compliance Officer. Yes. There is a need to revamp the global business, but without understanding the Compliance challenges and implementing a compliance program, then expect possible economic and criminal sanctions that your organization is exposed to and can have a significant impact.
Our specialty is to advise proactively (Risks and Compliance) and reactively (Investigations) needs and become the support of the Compliance Officer that your organization always requires with excellence, especially during the operations and expansion in emerging markets.