The compliance gap

A recent study has revealed that too many financial institutions continue to fall short of first‐class compliance. They are failing to recognize and close the gap between the historical checklist approach to compliance and whatever is required to assess and mitigate the totality of risks an organization may encounter. These organizations leave themselves extremely vulnerable to reputational damage with their customers, regulators, and other stakeholders. As part of the study entitled Compliance: A gap at the Heart of Risk Management, 160 executives responded to an in‐depth global survey on the subject of compliance. Alarmingly, less than one‐fifth of survey participants considered awareness of compliance‐related risks to be high across all parts of the business and fewer than one‐quarter were very confident in their full compliance with regulatory requirements and internal codes and policies.