Navigating the world of the UK’s financial services regulation and compliance can be a daunting prospect. Whether your business is a start-up company or a well-established enterprise looking to offer payment solutions to clients, the importance of creating a strong compliance framework cannot be overstated. The problem lies in where and how to start.
What does a compliance expert do?
Specialist compliance consultancies are experts in how and where to implement the necessary elements in payment services:
– Risk Management – competently managing risk can make or break a business. Allowing risks to go unidentified, unchecked and unmitigated can expose businesses to dire financial, reputational and operational consequences. With this in mind, building a comprehensive risk assessment framework in line with the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations – fully taking into account the risks surrounding the company’s customers, products and delivery channels – is one of the first and most important steps a new business should take.
– Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorist Financing Framework – now more than ever, with regulations rapidly changing, AML/CTF compliance must be taken seriously. Having the right tools and measures in place to verify customers are in line with regulatory standards, assess their risk exposure and ensure that they are not a sanctions target, underpinned by a proportionately strong and documented procedure framework, is an area where businesses offering regulated activities cannot afford to fall short.
– Compliance Monitoring – once a strong compliance framework is built, it must be maintained, ensuring that it doesn’t crumble after day one. As such, it is increasingly vital, regardless of the size of a business, for senior management to have effective visibility and oversight over the application of all controls, to ensure standards do not slip. Instituting a formal compliance monitoring framework, covering all areas and functions of the business, is therefore a critical but often overlooked step.
Thistle Initiatives, an award-winning specialist compliance consultancy, prides itself on easing this burden for new companies entering the payment services market. Leveraging its vast experience of assisting over 200 payment services clients over several years, we offer support packages allowing our customers to sleep easy knowing their tent is pitched on the right side of financial regulation.
