The financial services markets were rocked so severely that questions were bound to be asked and naturally the controls that were put in place during this period, having been wanting, are now being reviewed.
In fact firms around the world are now being 'stress tested' to ensure that new measures being implemented will go far enough to halt future regulatory failures. Critics claim that regulations now being proposed will only help to fight the last war and that for the markets to truly recover they need to address not only the processes being put in place but the people in the system and how they need to change. So it is somewhat ironic that there are no specific qualifications required to become a Compliance Officer and although many people in this role will have a legal qualification there are few specifics and fewer mandates on the criteria for the role (outside of a firm's individual spec). There are recommendations from some regulators but in many regions this is somewhat loose. So how do the people in these critical roles ensure that they are doing the right thing? Well for one they talk to each other and Complinet of course helps play a role by physically connecting them with peers at the various risk and compliance summits, forums and workshops we run globally.
Another big step for Complinet is to leverage new technology used by many of us socially such as FaceBook, Twitter and so on in it's more structured, enterprise-appropriate carnation. Corporate flavors of social networking are taking shape and beginning to take hold in firms. We use them ourselves and in fact now use SocialWok on Google Apps to help facilitate better and more dynamic communications internally.
So the social network where people swap war stories and pictures of their cats and babies is being more intelligently redeployed as a live collaboration tool to bring together experts in specific markets to share ideas, best practices and swap advice and guidance. A more relevant form of message board and micro blogging has sprung and now brings peers together in a way that builds real value both inside the firm but also across a specific industry.
Our next generation of product will fully incorporate these new dynamics and help the next generation of Compliance Officer learn from, and teach peers in a semi formal way while performing their various tasks. In a sense risk and compliance professionals will help build consensus on approach as they deliver results internally - this is particularly important when rule makers are at best inconsistent and in many cases vague about their guidance.
It is Complinet's view that a compliance community will emerge in a more meaningful way as the markets re-form and reform. From CCOs to practitioners that track regulatory developments, at every level in fact, this industry will need context for decision making and to a large extent the way they operate, with regulatory support (no action letters for example) will provide insight for other firms on what is expected from regulators.
The tone and structure of an FSA arrow visit for example was shared at a recent Complinet event when one firm discussed their surprise at a couple of changes and questions. Immediately the other firms at the event made notes and communicated internally that they should expect something similar. This was a forum for 10 firms - the community at large building an expert network would be able to share this information across the relevant parts of that expert network. So expect to see The next generation of Compliance Officer become much more aware and in touch with expert networking to provide guidance, context and validation.
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