5 Best Practices for Compliance Monitoring

Organizations are facing unprecedented challenges as they seek to optimize their investment compliance programs. Tight budgets, complex portfolios, and strict reporting requirements are making it difficult for groups to effectively monitor and respond to compliance issues in a timely manner.

Modern technology can help solve these problems, yet Deloitte’s 2021 State of Compliance Survey revealed most organizations are automating less than 50% of their compliance management. This highlights how much room there is for compliance teams to improve their programs.

Below, you will find five best practices for compliance monitoring. Compliance teams can use this resource to help make their processes more efficient and cost-effective while continuing to support strategic business goals.

Is your organization ready to respond to any upcoming compliance challenges? Talk to an expert to learn how Clearwater can help you apply best practices for compliance monitoring.

Automate Processes
Automation is the key that unlocks a more scalable, accurate compliance program. Organizations can scale more efficiently and reduce the risk of error when manual processes are reduced, and compliance teams can hone their focus on only the most pressing needs.

Additionally, automation allows for more frequent testing and more timely reporting. Rather than waiting days or even weeks before learning about compliance issues, automated systems can deliver notifications on the same day the issue arises. This allows compliance teams to be more proactive in investigating, communicating, and documenting any potential action needed on those violations

Monitor Compliance Daily
Data integrity and consistency are vital, yet it is often difficult to gain access instant access to the most up-to-date information. When it is time for an audit, organizations need to have the necessary data available at the push of a button, rather than waiting days or even weeks for access.

Taking a proactive approach is essential in the modern market to ensure portfolios are always meeting requirements. When markets are experiencing volatility, or certain sectors or asset classes experience increasing risk, daily monitoring allows teams to arm decision makers with the most current status of their compliance within those sectors and asset classes, along with their specific exposure.

Daily data monitoring, in tandem with automated compliance notifications, can help ensure portfolios are meeting compliance requirements whenever anyone needs to know.

Be Agile
Agility is vital in the modern investment landscape. When circumstances change, teams need to be able to respond quickly and efficiently.

Rather than getting caught off guard by compliance issues, agile organizations respond in a timely, accurate manner. Agile organizations have the data they need each day to properly develop and maintain their portfolio in compliance with guidelines and regulations.

It is not enough to simply respond to challenges as they arise. When a compliance program is agile, systems are in place to meet current needs while also preparing for, and possibly preventing, future challenges.

Simplify Reporting Processes
Automated reporting systems make it easy to access and share any necessary compliance information. Modern software allows leaders to download the reports they need for a board meeting at the click of a button. Flexible, customizable reporting systems also help ensure compliance teams and decision makers have the exact reports necessary to provide data points to analyze and take action based on any compliance status or activity.

Ensure Data Integrity
It is impossible to make confident decisions when you don’t trust your data. Therefore, it is critical to make data integrity a priority to ensure leaders have the accurate information they need for strategic planning.

Cloud-based accounting and reporting solutions can ensure data integrity with centralized, reconciled data in a single system. Rather than working with many different datasets and duplicating processes, cloud technology can streamline dataflow and ensure integrity for every user on the system.

Independence and Controls
When teams have an independent system reconciling data and monitoring compliance, they can avoid any conflicts of interest that might arise within their organization. This independence, along with a system that allows for controls limiting access to changes made within the organization, can make any audits or regulatory reviews a breeze. Automated and control-driven compliance solutions can also track and provide reporting on the history of any key changes to the monitoring all in one place with a few clicks.

Using Clearwater for Best Practices
In this challenging compliance environment, Clearwater is dedicated to helping teams streamline and build efficient processes. Every day, Clearwater delivers the accurate, timely information that teams need to succeed, in addition to the built-in controls and audit support that make stressful times easier to get through.

Clearwater gives leaders the tools they need to implement a modern set of best practices for compliance. Additionally, the Clearwater solution is preparing users for the future by continuously finding ways to reduce error-prone manual processes and drive faster, better performing compliance programs.

Ready to take your compliance monitoring to the next level? Talk to an expert to find out how Clearwater can help you apply these best practices.