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assisting you with compliance
Date : 9/23/2004 With stringent deadlines closing in, compliance is not something financial institutions have a choice about. But instead of implementing compliancy only for regulatory reasons, if implemented as part of a business solution, complying with multiple legislations can offer immense business benefits. These range from increased transparency, to cutting fraud and reducing risk to providing banks with cross-selling opportunities. By correctly implementing compliancy, financial institutions will potentially have a stronger reputation, as well as avoid costly penalties. Due to imposing deadlines and unclear definitions of which acts need to be implemented and which of these cross-over, companies are adopting solutions in isolation: purchasing single products or individual tools to address certain aspects. IQ believes it is not necessarily the best way of approaching compliancy, and certainly not the most cost effective.
There is overlap in certain areas of the regulatory acts and by adopting a process solution approach, not only will you address multiple areas, but you can achieve greater cost savings in the long term. In order to be more cost-efficient and not duplicate solutions, institutions need assistance to view the bigger picture. Through a strategic process approach, effective project management and implementation of a flexible plan to adapt to regulations, institutions will be able to reap the benefits of compliancy and achieve business best practice. Having done this before at major financial institutions, we can help you to see clearly. Money Laundering The Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 was promulgated in South Africa to assist in the identification and prevention of money laundering. Money laundering is the process of converting money obtained through illegal means – for example, drug trafficking, high-jacking, copyright fraud, tax evasion - into legal money in the financial markets. The ‘laundered’ proceeds may be used to finance organised crime and terrorism. New BASEL Capital Accord (BASEL II) Basel II updates the earlier 1988 Capital Accord. Its broader scope emphasizes internal self-assessment of risks and governance. Basel II encourages self-assessment and increases transparency of accumulated risks to the investment community. New to Basel II are capital requirements intended to protect firms from losses resulting from inadequate or failed internal governance, human resources, technical systems or external events. Sarbanes-Oxley The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires companies to certify internal procedures, by identifying and documenting processes and internal controls. It’s a compliancy measure that can offer companies immense benefits: By correctly implementing Sarbanes-Oxley, companies can evaluate their effectiveness, identify deficiencies, and implement improvements. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Compliance With the IQ Business Group’s deep experience with the design and implementation of ECM solutions, as well as the tried and tested knowledge of compliance and business process design, we are particularly well positioned to provide a superior service to our customers in terms of ECM and compliance. The IQ Business Group has an established and proven compliancy competency which includes business, process and ECM skills, brought together to provide a holistic compliance offering.
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