It is Barry-Walsh’s view that, when it comes to compliance issues, it is a matter of ‘when’ non-compliant activity will occur, not ‘if’. Though this may seem slightly fatalistic, the onus should be on preparing for problems to occur, and understanding how to handle them when they do:

“A good culture is one … that knows how to handle problems when they arise in an intelligent and sensible way which earns you some credit with how you handle that problem. It earns you that credit with your staff, with your clients, and with external stakeholders.”

The SEC’s Gary Gensler echoed this sentiment in December 2022, noting that “nothing motivates quite like accountability”. This was clearly demonstrated when FINRA issued an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance officer with a $25,000 fine and a suspension where he “took no steps to investigate or address” the firms surveillance and review process around AML. It was also made clear within action from the SEC whereby a Chief Compliance Officer received a $15,000 fine for knowing that the company had an “inadequately implemented” compliance program, but failed to act. From the regulator’s standpoint, there’s no time for burying heads in the sand.

“Complacency is one of the worst sins that you can have in this industry – remember, it could be you.”

Complacency – an inability to look inwardly and with a critical eye at your behaviours and practices – can lead to stagnation within a business and compliance team. If you assume that you are working compliantly and meeting all standards, or that your practices are unlikely to be called into question, you set yourself up for a compliance crisis.

The importance of avoiding becoming complacent, and to constantly assess practices and procedures in light of changing regulations and legal burdens, has been recently emphasised in a statement from Michael J. Hsu, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency at the OCC. As part of the OCC’s semiannual risk perspective, Hsu counselled the need to “guard against complacency” – because to become complacent opens up the very real chance of exposing yourself to risk. For Barry-Walsh, risk is born of a consistent – and very human – element:

“If you employ human beings, I can guarantee you that somewhere, probably right now, one of them is doing something stupid.”