BIBA-ICAB joint seminar to focus on Compliance
Thursday June 11 2009 | 04:10 PM

As financial authorities around the world move to tighten their regulatory frameworks in response to the global financial crisis, strong compliance practices are being targeted as a way of protecting the interests of customers, clients and shareholders in the Caribbean.

With the Caribbean already bearing witness to its own wave of financial institution collapses, Peter Thurton, president of Unity Managing Underwriters Ltd Consulting Division in Toronto, Canada, believes that the global financial crisis, will only increase the need for stricter compliance, market conduct and corporate governance standards in this region.

Thurton, who will be the facilitator of a one-day workshop entitled “Comprehensive Compliance”, on July 9 at the Hilton Barbados, said matters pertaining to compliance, market conduct and corporate governance, are essential to calculating the business risk that financial institutions undertake.

With this in mind, the workshop will guide companies on essential policies, methodologies and procedures they should have in place to ensure that compliance and market conduct risk are immediately addressed and brought to the proper attention of the board of directors. 

Thurton said the workshop would provide attendees with an understanding of the growing importance of compliance within financial services firms. He pointed out that compliance plays an integral part in keeping senior management and the board of directors acutely aware of regulatory issues and concerns that could adversely impact the financial institution bottom line.

Hosted by the Barbados International Business Association and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados, the workshop is aimed at accountants, compliance personnel, sales managers, risk managers, senior management, in-house counsel, agents / brokers, internal auditors, and anyone else with an interest or role in the area of compliance.

ICAB members and members of the International Compliance Association will each earn six continuing professional credits for attending the one-day workshop.