Banks’ control functions are not only critical to protect the institution from losses, but as well to protect all parties involved with the institution (clients, lenders, shareholders, governments, etc). As such the bank control framework has always been subject to a high level of scrutiny from the regulators but even more after the financial crisis and the major losses resulting from rogue trading activities not detected by the controls in place.
Among the challenges that the regulators are trying to address, we can mention the alignment between risks and controls, the formalization and documentation of the controls in place, the definition and the organization between the 3 lines of defence avoiding uncontrolled risk areas, proposing a clear split of responsibilities and reporting lines for the various functions and the ability for the Senior Management to get a fully aggregated view of the risks taken by the institution.
MLAdvisory can help banks to assess and adjust their Risk and Finance control framework in order to be more efficient, bring security and increase their compliance level. To do so we leverage on our extensive knowledge on regulation, our various assignments conducted around this topic and our visibility on best practices. As each bank is different in its organization, maturity or governance we make sure we adjust our proposals to the specificities of our clients.
Assignment example :
- Objective: increase efficiency and better compliance with the EBA guidelines of the control functions
- Proposal: review of the control functions mandate, organization and split of responsibilities between the 3 lines of defence
- Benefits: clarity of roles, better accountability of the people involved, smoother relationships between the parties involved
