Compliance is critical even when the attention of corporate leaders is diverted elsewhere. Businesses must comply with an ever-increasing number of data protection, privacy, and industry-specific rules and regulations, including legislation enacted abroad. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK's Data Protection Act are two of the most important. Thus, it is paramount to look for the best Compliance services.
1. Covid-19
What should we do first? Coronavirus has impacted every facet of civilization, creating a compliance cluster-bomb in the process. You may have heard the BBC mention 'levels of compliance' for the first time. Some areas of compliance have always been life or death, but due to Covid-19, we may see this writ large in 2020.
It brought up the issue of compliance planning and implementation from a strategic standpoint. Business continuity plans, as well as compliance continuity planning, were scrutinized. Don't feel terrible if your plans were thrown off; it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and even the UK government failed to deliver.
Work habits have a significant impact. When a large number of people were suddenly obliged to work from home, compliance outside of the office went from a luxury to a requirement. As employees used remote access to systems, every data-related danger increased. Then there's the question of working from home's health and safety, not to mention the mental health hazards.
Certain industries have been severely impacted. Furlough has, in many situations, merely postponed the inevitable. As a result, huge layoffs could occur in 2021, exacerbated by Brexit. If your company is forced to lay off employees, it's critical to follow the guidelines or risk being sued for unjust dismissal.
There is a new compliance issue to deal with. The responsibility of keeping sensitive health-related data on employees takes on a new shape. Initially, organizations only need to know if someone became unwell or was exposed to someone who was infected. The topic of whether or not employees can go to work without proof of immunization is now on the horizon. It's a matter for the government to determine, but in recent years, there has been a trend of devolving responsibility for such issues.
Compliance Issue #2 - Brexit
Things didn't get much clearer after 'the meaningful vote.' Companies are still in the dark following a 12-month "transitional period." With Brexit nearing, the EU's "nothing is accepted until everything is agreed" concept looms over the UK, potentially resulting in the dreaded "no-deal" scenario.
With so many possible outcomes for Brexit and so little time remaining, we're in the terrifying position of not knowing which regulatory/legislative regime we'll be in a few weeks, leaving us with less time to react in terms of compliance.
Even if a deal is reached, numerous 'low-risk regulatory issues have been put on hold, with the repercussions remaining unknown until the dangers materialize. It puts businesses in a more vulnerable position than at any previous time in recent memory.
3. SMCR
To be fair, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had its job cut out for it in trying to establish an accountability regime across its vast jurisdiction, which includes everything from individual financial advisers to global financial behemoths.
The Senior Managers and Certification Regime was created in response to public outcry following the 2008 financial crisis. It arose from the public's perception of a lack of accountability and punishment among those running and controlling banks and other financial sector firms; while the public, as a result of a ripple effect, paid the economic price for these banking officials' actions.
From 9 December 2019, the Senior Managers and Certification Regime has replaced the Approved Persons Regime for almost every other FCA-regulated firm, from very small businesses and those with limited permissions (such as sole traders and limited-permission consumer credit firms) to many of the world's largest corporations. Make sure to look for the best Compliance services to experience the difference.
Comments
Post a Comment