Wealth & Finance International - February 2017

29 February 2017 Mitigating Circumstances s a part of a robust and comprehensive approach, the investigative background check services that Financial Risk Mitigation (“FRM”) performs for its clients, provides them with the confidence to transact or put into place additional controls to ensure business objectives are achieved. Thorough inves- tigative due diligence, consisting of a background check on a com- pany and its management, reveals the track record for success or the questionable business practices which scream “buyer beware.” FRM has been in business for over a decade and counts the largest financial institutions and investors among its client base. Hugh Craigie Halkett is a Consultant for FRM. He tells us more about the firm and the recent successes it has enjoyed. “A hedge fund investor that performs background checks as a routine practice engaged FRM,” he begins. “In the course of our investigation of the target hedge fund manager, we discovered a CFO who had been arrested only a few months prior on shop-lifting charges, in addition to having another misdemeanour conviction for the same offence years previously. The investor enquired whether the key management was aware of the convictions and they were aware of neither. It was deter- mined that the hedge fund manager’s pre-employment checking firm limited criminal record searches to only the current county of residence and arbitrarily limited all searches to a seven (7) year window despite no law in the country where research was being performed required a limit as such for a highly compensated employee. The CFO was dismissed as a result of the report. The hedge fund manager retained FRM for performing background checks on its next CFO candidate and instituted a practice of periodic employment investigations on its staff.” Hugh’s role is principally one of account development and manage- ment. With offices here in the UK, Hugh manages clients from as far afield as Los Angeles to Singapore. Hugh commented on his daily activities. “From the client side I am responsible for scoping their background check requirements. Thereafter, I direct any questions or queries on the report from the client to the relevant member of our investigation team.” Hugh interacts with an investigative team of experts with backgrounds in financial analysis, law enforcement, regulatory work, litigation, data- base research, and direct courthouse research. With regards to the future, there are both opportunities and challenges which Hugh foresees in 2017 and beyond relating to the regulatory environment placing increased burdens on FRM’s clients. “It is only the large outfits with a truly global reach that can operate the scrupulous in- tegrity that we apply in providing the investigative due diligence service we do for our clients,” Hugh states. “Increasingly, we are finding we are handling additional enquiries from a number of new areas including: “FCPA/ UK Bribery Act – we conduct integrity reviews of 3rd party suppliers on behalf of clients to help ensure they comply with the UK Bribery Act here in the UK and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the U.S.” “Citizenship – acting on behalf of government agencies we conduct in- vestigative due diligence on High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) seeking citizenship of individual countries. “HNWI – we conduct self-assessment background checks on HNWI who are looking to transact with individuals/ businesses or government agencies and want re-assurance that there is nothing in their past they may come back to haunt them. We also conduct conventional back- ground checks on behalf of HNWI on 3rd parties.” “With the surprise election of President Trump in the US, Brexit and the possible break-up of the European Union, we live in a very uncertain world. It is critically important that both HNWI and Business know who they are transacting with. We provide that necessary reassurance.” Company: Financial Risk Mitigation, Inc. Name: Hugh Craigie Halkett Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.frm-inc.com Address: Kiershill, Addiston Farm Road, Ratho, Edinburgh, UK, EH28 8NU. Telephone: +1 (504)620-0686 (Corporate Office General Switch) Hugh Craigie Halkett speaks openly about the financial risk mitigation industry and what lies ahead for the future. A 1702WF79