Dallas McGillivray is the Managing Director of Fleming McGillivray & Co. Limited (“FMConsult”) and is responsible for the running of the consultancy business. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in London, the company is an independent regulatory, product development and operational/investment risk consultancy, committed to assisting clients in aligning financial services processes with regulatory requirements. FMConsult provides risk and compliance solutions that enable senior management of financial services firms to demonstrate that they and their firm are currently, and will continue to be, aligned with regulatory requirements. Here Dallas talks to Finance Monthly about the compliance consulting sector, the most common issues that his clients need assistance with and offers advice both to potential clients and to his peers who operate within the industry.

 

What are the most common compliance issues that clients encounter in the daily running of their business? What advice can be given to help companies avoid these issues?

Day-to-day issues vary significantly depending on the size, nature and complexity of the business.  Corporate governance, cross-border promotion of UCITS and AIF’s, regulatory capital including the ICAAP, and CASS issues do come to our attention regularly. I’d say that the best form of defence against these issues is regular training to ensure that line managers are suitably aware.

 

What types of companies are legally required to have a compliance officer? What are the main purposes of a compliance officer?

Each regulated entity must have a compliance oversight person (Control Function 10) that provides a regulatory oversight to the entities operations. The main purpose of a Compliance Officer is to allow the CEO to sleep easy at night.

 

When starting up a new business or expanding into a new business sector, what regulatory issues should proprietors have in mind to avoid future compliance issues?

In order to avoid future compliance issues, proprietors need to be mindful of capital requirements, client documentation and systems.

 

What’s your golden nugget of advice for other professionals operating within compliance consulting?

Understand your client and know their risks. Do not be a “box ticker” like so many compliance consultancies.

 

What have been your biggest achievements in your career thus far?

I think my biggest achievement to date is being the Global Compliance and Operational Risk Director of a very large and diversified global business and implementing an operational risk based compliance approach across all jurisdictions.

 

What does 2017 hold for you and Fleming McGillivray & Co.?

The challenge is to grow strongly in a controlled way and to ensure that all of our clients continue to see value in the operational risk based approach that we provide. To build on our investment risk business

 

Anything else?

Compliance starts at the top and if the CEO does not understand that then the Head of Compliance must consider his/her options or his/her career will be short-lived.