Safeguarding Your Employer: Suggestions for a Compliance Professional with Limited Resources

Compliance departments come in all shapes and sizes. Some companies have multi-person teams exclusively devoted to compliance while others place responsibility for compliance with a single individual whose duties encompass multiple areas. While business-minded executives are realizing with increasing frequency the necessity of a robust compliance operation, the reality remains that compliance is not a revenue-generating business line, and despite the best intentions of executive management, you likely find yourself operating with fewer resources than you would in an ideal world. To that end, we have put together a few suggestions to help you maximize the resources you have and tap into resources you might not have considered in an effort to do your job more efficiently and effectively while maintaining your sanity.

In the article, Haydn and Heather outline five areas to improve efficiency:

1. Building internal tools that work for you. For example, the authors suggest building an internal knowledge base for most frequently asked questions, and refining policies and procedures to define specific times during which mortgage loan originators (MLOs) can submit compliance inquiries.
2. Implementing a streamlined approach to risk evaluation. For instance: honing in on those areas of the business where the compliance concerns are most frequent or most significant.
3. Taking advantage of available compliance resources. Hutchings and Richards underscore the importance of carefully reviewing the published examination guidelines from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
4. Drawing upon the talents of similar professionals to network and share ideas. The authors explain that learning how similarly situated companies have dealt with like-minded issues is invaluable.
5. Establishing a relationship with the right outside counsel. Compliance officers—particularly those in organizations with limited resources—need to have outside counsel that not only fully understands the company’s business model but also serves the compliance officer’s needs in a timely, responsive and cost-effective manner.

Read the complete article, “Safeguarding Your Employer: Suggestions for a Compliance Professional with Limited Resources” on Mortgage Compliance Magazine.