The Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC) and the International Compliance Association (ICA) are to develop standards of competence for compliance service providers.
The two organisations have asked for the co-operation of the insurance industry in developing these standards.
“We can only develop these standards with the expertise of the industry. Involvement at this critical stage would ensure that your views are taken into account for the long-term benefit of the business and individuals working in compliance,” they said.
The FSSC and the ICS have asked for senior compliance practitioners to:
• serve on one of the steering groups that will advise on standards for the two main areas of countering money laundering and general compliance (e.g. the avoidance of mis-selling);
• join one of the working groups that will draft detailed standards for particular functions;
• discuss their work with one of its specialist researchers;
• comment on draft standards as they emerge.
ICA chief executive Bill Howarth, said: “In the increasingly insecure global environment of our industry, the risks of the failure of systems have never been higher, for the reputation of the business, for individual compliance officers – who can now be held personally liable – and for the consumer.
“Good compliance standards are good business. These new standards will enable your company to guard against risks as they emerge.”
Tom Caple, head of sector engagement at the FSSC, said: “One in ten people in the financial services sector works in compliance, a dynamic and challenging environment requiring high standards of competence.
“Although our focus will be on compliance within the financial services sector, equivalent functions exist in other industries, many of who will be interested in the standards that emerge from this project.
“The range of stakeholders demonstrates how important this project is, not just to the compliance community, but to the financial services sector as a whole, and beyond it to other regulated industries, especially to service industries in the ‘knowledge economy'.”
