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By Adam Turteltaub
Last year was an eventful one for the world and the compliance profession. In this podcast, Matt Kelly, Editor and CEO of Radical Compliance, looks back at what he sees as the biggest events, and looks into the future.
The conversation begins with the impact of the war in Ukraine. He observes that the increasing number of sanctions of Russian individuals and entities, as well as the variations from country to country, have forced companies to improve their sanctions compliance efforts. The sanctions have also complicated procurement, forcing organizations to review their suppliers more carefully to avoid sanctions issues.
With the war has also come of host of ethical considerations. Organizations have had to decide what to do with their Russian operations and the people that work at them.
Also on the international front, 2023 brought increased cooperation among prosecutors, with a rising number of anti-corruption enforcement actions combining the resources of prosecutors in multiple countries. ABB, Glencore and Danske Bank are three notable examples.
This activity comes at the same time as Europe continues to lead the world in privacy and data protection requirements.
Looking domestically, he points to statements by Lisa Monaco at the Department of Justice and the push to require certification of the effectiveness of the compliance program by the CEO and chief compliance officer. This could be a dramatic shift for compliance programs. On the one hand, it could create stronger ties between the CEO and compliance, Matt observes. On the other hand, compliance officers would see greater personal risk, especially given the real likelihood that, despite a strong program, wrongdoing may occur.
Whether certification truly becomes established practice, though, has yet to be seen. Thus far it has only been imposed in the context of recently signed DPAs. As a result, certification will come in three years, if at all. He notes that a change in Administration could see a reversal of the policy.
What does he see in 2023? For one, a need for compliance teams to improve their ability to access and analyze data. The US Department of Justice has made it clear that it expects organizations to have robust compliance data analytics processes.
Second, he sees increased data protection enforcement actions, both abroad and in the US.
Listen in to learn more about what happened and what to expect for your compliance program in the year to come.