What’s your first thought when you think of compliance?

It’s not the most fun word association game (although, if the phrase “a pain in the arse” comes to mind, then maybe it is). For many, the view of compliance is that it’s a necessary evil – a bureaucratic hurdle that must be cleared if you want to stay in business. This has turned compliance into something to fear, a burden that drains your resources and stifles innovation. Instead of being a supportive partner, the common feeling is compliance is a ‘business prevention unit’ - something cumbersome and clunky, holding you back.

It’s high time we were able to flip this image. But how?

Counting the cost

First let’s look at where this negative perception comes from. For the most part, it’s outdated systems, misaligned processes, and an over-reliance on manual interventions such as spreadsheets and onsite visits. These monopolise your time and can have a huge cumulative effect on you and your business. Think of the time wasted, opportunities lost, and the disruption. Now, think of the impact this has on your clients.

As a paraplanning provider, we’ve seen first-hand how compliance can negatively impact firms, advisers, and their clients. And there are plenty of stats to back us up:

• 11 hours a week – more than two months a year – are being spent on compliance activities
• 25% of firms said compliance keeps them up at night
• As much as 23% of turnover can be lost to compliance

The FCA’s total revenue spend in 2023 was £5.3bn. A conservative guess of how much of this was spent on compliance, say 20%, and we’re looking at more than £1bn. Does this feel like value for money?

What’s worse, this approach seems like it’s having a demonstrably negative effect on clients. According to the Scottish Widows Investor Confidence Barometer, compliance costs are actually forcing advisers to seek clients with larger portfolios. The average minimum portfolio is now at £117,000 – which has risen from £100,000 in just a year. So much for even trying to close the advice gap.

What if things were different?

What if instead of a burden and a drain, compliance was easy? What if monitoring was neatly integrated into your culture and operations instead of being clunky? What if your business could thrive thanks to compliance instead of being held back?

Here are some of the benefits we’ve seen when you get compliance right:

• Effective risk management – compliance that helps you to streamline your processes
• Responsiveness – timely reactions to industry changes that ensures your business is always proactive
• Better reporting – an aligned approach that ensures necessary reporting happens without draining resources
• Enhanced proposition management – compliance that facilitates working with clients who sit outside the central investment proposition, rather than creating obstacles
• Handling complaints – compliance that plays a crucial role in effectively addressing complaints
• Positive team dynamics – compliance that underpins team operations helping everyone get behind shared goals

This is a brand new world. This is compliance that’s personalised to your firm, adapting to your goals and operations rather than forcing you into rigid structures designed for someone else. In this world, compliance quietly works in the background and lets you focus on delivering exceptional value to your clients. 

How do we get there?

This vision isn’t just aspirational, it’s achievable. It’s just that no one has meaningfully tackled it – until now. There are three crucial areas we think need to be in place for it to happen:

• ‍Flexibility: Whether it’s a hands-on or a light touch, compliance services have to adapt to your business model and growth stage.‍
• Empowerment: Compliance should support broader business goals by taking a holistic rather than a ‘tick box’ approach.‍
• Streamlined through technology: Technology needs to make outdated, expensive, and manual compliance processes a thing of the past.

We look at these in more detail in our latest whitepaper. ‘The Dawn of Positive Compliance’ shows how you can flip compliance from burden to opportunity and, if truly realised, what it could mean for your business, and your clients. 

This is your chance to break free from outdated processes and take control of compliance in a way that aligns with your vision for the future. Whether you’re looking to streamline operations, improve client satisfaction, or position your firm for long-term success, this paper will offer practical solutions to make it happen.

Welcome to a new era of empowerment and opportunity.

Welcome to the Dawn of Positive Compliance.

Click here and be one of the first to receive our upcoming whitepaper The Dawn of Positive Compliance.

‍