From: Bloomberg BNA
By Richard H. Girgenti
As we look back at 2015 and ahead into 2016, the regulatory enforcement landscape is becoming increasingly clear. One can begin to see trends that will shape the terrain for the remainder of 2016 and beyond. It is absolutely critical that boards, C-level executives, risk management and compliance professionals foresee and plan for these trends, and understand the implications, risks and challenges that they present for their organizations.
1. The Increasing Importance of Effective Corporate Compliance Programs
One of the most important regulatory and policy developments in recent years has been the government’s heightened scrutiny of the effectiveness of an organization’s compliance program in making decisions regarding both liability and cooperation. Since the advent of the Organizational Sentencing Guidelines in 1991, and through numerous policy statements since then, the government has continually emphasized the importance of an effective compliance program. Perhaps the most explicit indicator of the government’s seriousness about its evaluation of a company’s compliance program was the decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) at the end of 2015 to hire Hui Chen as compliance counsel to provide expert guidance to prosecutors considering whether to charge and give a company cooperation credit. This is a first for the DOJ and is evidence of the importance it will place on the evaluation of compliance programs.
2. Increased Focus on Individuals and Gatekeepers in Criminal Investigations and Enforcement Actions
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