Best Practices for Maintaining Compliance in Financial Institutions
Costly both legally and financially, maintaining compliance in financial institutions is the heavy burden carried. Know the best practices.
Keyword(s): compliance in financial institutions
One of the scariest things a consumer can go through is realizing that their confidential banking information is being compromised. When financial institutions do the right thing, consumers are more likely to put their trust in them.
Compliance in financial institutions may be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some best practices.
Train All Staff In Compliance for Financial Institutions
This one seems like a no brainer. All staff should go through training for compliance in financial institutions. This is true whether they are in the compliance department or otherwise. Every single person who:
- interacts with customers,
- accesses accounts, or
- handles moneys
should go through training in compliance.
It is a rule that all U.S. institutions be FDIC insured. In turn, every single staff member should be upholding the six FDIC core values. Those values are integrity, competence, teamwork, effectiveness, accountability, and fairness. The root of these values is compliance — meeting all rules and standards within the industry.
The world of compliance is embattled every day due to trade wars. So how can financial institutions relieve consumers’ fears? Keeping things stable by offering compliance training across the board. It is imperative that you train all staff in an effective and efficient manner when it comes to compliance. This could be something built into new-hire training or ongoing training for all employees.
Conduct Regular Internal Assessments
Regular internal assessments or audits are a great way to keep your institution on the up and up. Internal auditors will comb through your data to ensure that all employees (from the ground up) are abiding by all rules and regulations set by the institution itself as well as those that are regulated on a federal level.
Internal audits will safeguard customer information, meaning there is low risk of security breeches or other objectionable practices (like Wells Fargo account scandal a few years ago). At our 2019 conference, we even discussed implementing a right-to-audit clause as a strategy for managing third-party relationships.
Hold the Compliance Department to Higher Standards
Your compliance department should be held to a high standard. Don’t look to them to advise, look to these employees as gatekeepers of information. These employees should act as compliance advisers. The compliance department should also take active roles in risk management and monitoring.
Strong partnerships with your compliance team makes a difference. It will mean that they are willing to do whatever it takes to keep your institution safe, secure, and compliant. Compliance team members should be active participants in your daily inner workings.
When it Comes to Maintaining Compliance…
Compliance in financial institutions isn’t easy.
We understand that compliance needs vary from business to business. We also believe that strong compliance practices is in everyone’s best interest. We have the knowledge needed to provide cutting edge strategies and solutions.
Are you ready to learn more? Find out why we’re different here.