www.wealthandfinance-intl.com 9 Best Financial Compliance Support Consultants 2016 - UK ACA Compliance (Europe) Limited is the European division of ACA Compliance Group (“ACA”), the world’s leading provider of regulatory compliance products and solutions, cybersecurity and IT risk services, GIPS ® and performance services, and technology solutions to regional, national, and global firms in the financial services industry. We interviewed Adam Palmer, Partner, and Jonathan Wedgbury, Principal Consultant, to gain a fascinating insight into the company and its bespoke service offering. Company: ACA Compliance (Europe) Ltd Address: Panton House, 25 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4EN Phone: +44 (0)20 7042 0500 E-mail:
[email protected] [email protected] Website: http://www.acacomplianceeurope.com/ Operating from locations across America and Europe, ACA is the world’s largest independent compliance consultancy. ACA’s success is based upon its reputation, cultivated since its establishment in 2002, for providing professional, highly-regarded client services combined with technical expertise. ACA supplies bespoke compliance and regulatory solutions, advice, support and consultancy services to clients across the regulated financial industry, working with a wide range of firms from investment advisers and managers, wealth managers, commodity trad- ing advisors, investment companies and broker-dealers. In his opening comments, Adam is keen to emphasise ACA’s focus on providing tai- lored solutions to each client, an approach that ensures the firm exactly meets their individual needs. “Here at ACA, we work with a wide variety of clients who operate in numerous sectors and geographies, supporting them with their com- pliance with UK, US and European regulations. Each client is unique, and as such has widely different requirements from their compliance consultants.” He continues, “For start-up firms, we offer support in all aspects of compliance, from initial authorisation through to comprehensive day-to-day regulatory support and guidance. Larger firms may need different types of support, and we are able to provide these firms with a whole range of solutions, for instance providing a consultant to work ‘in-house’, offering periodic or focused compliance reviews, and conducting mock FCA / SEC examinations that replicate the experience of having a formal regulatory visit and assess the adequacy of a firm’s compliance programme and their ability to respond appropriately to a regulator’s requests.” Fundamental to the company’s work is helping clients prepare for ever more complex rules and regulations in a fast-changing, global regulatory environment. Adam believes that the key to staying ahead of devel- opments in the industry, and therefore offering clients the very best support and advice, is the firm’s experienced and dedicated team of over 300 professionals. “Our team is the key to providing clients with the very highest standards of service which are tailored to their needs. We recruit a wide variety of staff, with employees ranging from former regulators to previous in- house compliance officers. By combining our experiences, we are able to help our clients in not just understanding the rules that the regulators enforce, but also how to implement them on a day-to-day basis. We have sat in their seat and dealt with the issues that come up in-house, therefore we can offer practical solutions to the problems they face. “Overall, our team combines over 100 years’ experience as UK regula- tory consultants and includes former FSA, FCA and SEC examiners, to- gether with experienced industry practitioners and individuals previously approved by the FSA as Compliance Oversight Officers.” As the firm’s staff are such a vital resource, it is crucial that they are supported so that they are able to provide the very best service. Jona- than believes that the firm has a very supportive and inclusive culture. “Working in compliance can be a very challenging task, with con- sultants having to advise businesses and individuals often managing significant assets and wealth. Therefore, ACA works hard to make sure that our staff are appropriately supported. Client relationships are gen- erally managed by a minimum of two experienced consultants so that WM16035