Compliance officers urged to enforce standards
The Minister of Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour, has charged compliance officers in Africa to adhere to strict compliance regimes to safeguard the security of businesses across the continent.
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He said that would also enable financial institutions to adhere to strict compliance laws which would in turn reduce risk in business transactions, create investor value and increase economic growth across the continent.
The minister said this at the 2nd Annual Conference of compliance officers on Thursday, August 23, organised by the Association of Certified Compliance Professionals in Africa (ACCPA), Accra.
He said providers of critical resources were always in search of economies that protected their interests and maximised their wealth through a well-structured compliance system.
“It is therefore economically suicidal for business managers and operators to undermine the efficiency of their compliance and internal control systems which have the negative impact of reducing the value of investor funds,” he added.
He mentioned, “Corruption is a cancer causing a huge financial haemorrhage of our respective natural resources, thereby perpetuating poverty in our society”, and fervently hoped that after the two days intensive deliberations and networking, impact of knowledge and information would be built to create a better world for Ghanaians.
The minister also urged members of the ACCPA to discover a new direction to deepen efficiency in risk assessment to enhance investment flows in Africa as they continued with deliberations on how to improve compliance standard in Africa, professionalise the compliance career, customer preferences, client risk assessment, correspondent banking and De-risking, cyber laundering, crypto currencies, Bit coin and suspicious transaction reporting.
Intervention from AfDB
The Division Manager of Integrity and Prevention at the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mrs Florence Dennis, in an interview with GRAPHIC BUSINESS, said AfDB had put in place policy strategies which interlinked with the ACCPA’s vision that risk management was key when ensuring compliance.
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“In building the capacity of our regional countries we work with key stakeholders and through ACCPA who has the capacity to provide platforms for learning and improving on quality businesses,” she said.
Mrs Dennis added that “AfDB has already developed policies that ensure the check of compliance and mitigation since it is prudent in achieving a standard financial system. We collaborated with ACCPA to enhance the exchange of information in strategising businesses both in banking and financial high risk areas.”
“Hopefully, an individual who has indulged in this exercise would be challenged and educated.”
She proposed that individuals should engage in networking and take advantage of the provided opportunities to create other business transactions.
She mentioned that some of the topics under discussion were the identification of high risk areas on the Africa continent, conducting due diligence in high risk sectors, and accessing beneficial ownership which has been a global concern; Development of databases that would enhance due diligence processes, money utilisation in financial sectors, mitigating compliance where there would be no linkages in the system.
She suggested to all compliance officers to stand up to their responsibilities by finding the appropriate mitigation mix. —GB