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William Barry Discusses Corruption Risks for Financial Institutions and Investment Funds in Financier Worldwide

Subtitle
"Forum: Evolving Corruption Risks for Financial Institutions and Investment Funds"

Financier Worldwide

In this forum discussion, William Barry, joined by Hannah Musgrave of Bell Gully; David Pasewaldt of Clifford Chance Deutschland LLP; and Sonja Pavic of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, discusses the risks and regulatory scrutiny facing financial institutions (FIs) and investment funds, along with strategies for them to deploy to address risks to their organizations. "Proactive, documented risk assessments are a critical component of a viable anti-corruption programme. Risk assessments inform the enterprise how best to allocate resources and protect it in the event of a problem, particularly when the problem goes undetected until discovered by regulators or others outside the organization," Barry said. "Pressure on FIs and investment funds will only increase as anti-corruption and other financial crime enforcement 'goes global'. FIs are on the front lines as potential subjects and as sources of information, as we can see from many current investigations emanating from Brazil, the Netherlands, the US, Switzerland and elsewhere," he added. "As criminals and regulators become more sophisticated about the complexities of financial crime, be it corruption, money laundering, economic sanctions violations or other misconduct, participants in the industry will have to ensure that their compliance programmes are keeping pace."