Standard Chartered Bank’s Head – Legal and Compliance Training for India and South Asia, P. Ananthakrishnan (Ananth) recently conducted a knowledge-sharing session for the compliance officers of over 25 banks and financial institutions in Sri Lanka on the subject of ‘Risk-based compliance’.
The two and half hour session was attended by close to 40 compliance officers and senior compliance officials of banks in Colombo and was held at the Hatton National Bank Training Centre under the auspices of the Association of Compliance Officers of Banks (ACOB).
Standard Chartered Compliance Head Inam Cassim commenting on the session said, “These sessions are facilitated by Standard Chartered as part of its efforts to add value to the banking industry in Sri Lanka through sharing expertise on key subjects through a senior resource person like Ananth. It is clear now that the traditional way in which banks used to manage compliance, on a ‘rules based one size fits all’ approach has to change. Instead, compliance risk management should now focus on a ‘Risk based’ approach which takes into account the size, geographical reach, management structure, complexities, risk profile and risk appetite of banks.”
Some salient points of general interest coming out of the session included the fact that increasingly in the current financial climate, banks have to now manage several risks related to compliance such as operational risk, outsourcing of services risk, customer impact risk, cross border risk, etc., and the management of these risks must become integral to the bank’s compliance risk management structure. The compliance officer now assumes a critical role in the management structure and should be part of the senior management with a direct line to the Board of Directors or Management Committee, with no interference in his right to express his views.
