Book Review: ‘How to Be a Wildly Effective Compliance Officer’

By Matt Kelly | February 8, 2016 |

We haven’t had a book review here yet, so let’s turn to one book fresh off the presses and written by one of the compliance community’s own: How to Be a Wildly Effective Compliance Officer, written by Kristy Grant-Hart. Kristy (I have known her for years and refuse to call her “Grant-Hart”) has spent 10…

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More From the DoJ Compliance Counsel

By Matt Kelly | February 5, 2016 |

Anyone looking for the latest about Hui Chen, hired by the Justice Department last fall to be its first-ever compliance counsel, look no further—she appears in a lengthy interview published by Ethics & Compliance Initiative this week, talking about what she wants to see from effective compliance programs. The Justice Department’s Fraud Section hired Chen…

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Small Moves Forward in Assessing Terrorism Risks

By Matt Kelly | February 3, 2016 |

Compliance officers in the financial world, take note: financial crime regulators may be edging a bit forward on their approaches to fighting terrorism funding. At least, that’s one way to read this week’s statement from the Egmont Group, an affiliation of financial crime regulators trying to develop coordinated approaches to fighting money laundering and terrorism…

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The Perils of Combining Audit and Compliance

By Matt Kelly | February 1, 2016 |

Few compliance and audit executives believe that integrating those two functions is a wise idea, but good news for those of you forced by your CEO to march down that dubious path—you have some fresh guidance on how to make the trip with minimal missteps. Last week the Institute of Internal Auditors published a slim…

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board

Toward Better Boards, and More Diverse Boards

By Matt Kelly | January 29, 2016 |

Well, apparently now it’s the nominating and governance committee’s turn to be hammered on the anvil of corporate governance reform. We see the evidence everywhere: a report from the Government Accountability Office noting that at current pace, women will represent half of all seats on corporate boards sometime around 2055. Calls for more women, minorities,…

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The Board’s Role in Resilience: A Limited One

By Matt Kelly | January 27, 2016 |

Yesterday I had the privilege to participate in a corporate governance forum in New York, talking about the board of directors’ role in building corporate resilience. Resiliency is a popular buzzword in governance circles these days, so I want to recap some of the main points here—because while I agree that the modern company absolutely…

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job

‘Compliance 2.0’ and Compliance Careers in Finance

By Matt Kelly | January 26, 2016 |

Anyone looking for jobs in the compliance field these days is bound to encounter the hot buzzword in the profession, “Compliance 2.0.” Mostly this phrase is marketing spin—but it’s worth dissecting in a bit more detail, because there is some substance behind the idea, and that can have some importance as compliance professionals look for…

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Global

Business Ethics, the Bulwark Against Political Risk

By Matt Kelly | January 22, 2016 |

I try not to wax too philosophical in my columns, nor take such a macro-economic view of events that I lose sight of the relevance to compliance officers. Sometimes, however, as we all struggle to answer that eternal question, “Does fighting for ethical business standards really matter?” a perspective comes along that answers the question…

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Overseeing the Audit Amid a Winter of Turmoil

By Matt Kelly | January 20, 2016 |

As Wall Street crashes around our ears this week—down 1.5 percent just today, and off to its worst yearly start ever—audit committees at financial firms should strap yourselves in. This year’s audit could be the most tumultuous you’ve overseen in a long while. At least, that’s the conclusion I reach as I re-read the guidance…

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internal audit

Audit Committees in Banking, Listen Up

By Matt Kelly | January 18, 2016 |

Audit committees at big international banks have just been nudged. Whether that nudge is friendly or not remains to be seen. The regulatory poke to the ribs came in a bulletin issued Friday by three U.S. banking regulators, voicing their support for external audits of large banks done according to standards issued by the Basel…

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About Us

Technically, Radical Compliance is the personal blog of Matt Kelly, long-time writer and observer of the corporate compliance and GRC scene. I was a writer, editor, and publisher at Compliance Week, 2003 through 2015; some of you may know me from my career there. I also speak frequently at compliance conferences and other events, and will pretty much shoot the breeze on any compliance topic with anyone who asks.