Allan Gray and StatPro's Governance
module
It is simply good business
practice for a company seeking standards of excellence to introduce
a compliance culture, involving all employees at all levels. This
has been heightened by recent revelations about corporate
mismanagement, fraud and accounting
irregularities.
In this
article Lise Grobbelaar summarises the most recent legislation
aimed at increasing control over commercial and financial activity
and describes how the Allan Gray Compliance team, together with
software company StatPro, has implemented a best-of-breed
governance system, which provides a single integrated compliance
environment.
Prevention has always been more effective than
defraying.
Responsible companies will not ignore risk exposure and will
implement a compliance culture to prevent legal liability rather
than getting involved in a legal process at a later stage. It is
simply good business practice for a company seeking standards of
excellence to find ways to rise above the introduction of conduct
rules and managerial supervision to maintain compliance.
A compliance culture, involving all employees at all
levels, is required.
The specific scope of compliance at Allan Gray is about ensuring
adherence to the laws and regulations that govern the business, and
ensuring that policies and procedures are put in place to enable
such adherence and to safeguard clients' investments. Recent
events, particularly the US mutual fund scandal, have focused
attention on the investment industry in a manner never previously
seen. These worries were compounded by revelations about corporate
mismanagement, fraud and accounting irregularities.
The result was an increasing public demand for tighter controls
over corporate governance and for executive responsibility. That
translated into a collective return to the legal drawing boards by
legislatures and regulators, all determined to exercise increasing
control, in the name of public protection, over commercial and
financial activity.
Compliance in action
In order to meet the varied and complex regulatory and client
mandate compliance requirements, investment companies are
recognising the need for the implementation of sophisticated
compliance systems and processes.
The Allan Gray Compliance Team, together with software company,
StatPro, has implemented a specialist best-of-breed investment
compliance system, which provides a single integrated compliance
environment. It offers comprehensive functionality and workflow
tailored to the needs of the compliance function. Having all
regulatory rules, client mandates and in-house requirements in one
specialised system eliminates the need for spreadsheets and manual
processes, and reduces the dependence on back-office systems and
processes.
"Recent events have focused attention on the investment
industry in a manner never previously seen."
StatPro's governance system allows the compliance team to
focus on resolving breaches and other value-added tasks and ensures
that the company as a whole has a clear and concise view of the
status of investment compliance at any point in time through
ongoing electronic notification. The communication by various
people across the workplace ensures an open and consistent approach
to resolving compliance breaches and promotes awareness and
understanding. The organisation can be confident therefore that it
is managing the compliance process effectively and delivering a
quality service to its clients.
LiseGrobbelaar | Assistant
Compliance Officer, Allan Gray Limited
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