There are many factors that contribute to the rising cost of financial crime (FC) compliance including the growing complexity of compliance itself and the large chunk of labour costs linked to this. As global FC compliance experts, Lysis Group has an extensive track record of helping firms to successfully achieve and maintain FC compliance by focusing on providing consulting services across the governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) landscape with the distinct objective of reducing the short-and long-term costs linked to compliance.

Health checks and maturity assessments

All firms must review their AML and broader FC programmes on a regular basis to ensure that it conforms to current regulatory requirements and are fit for purpose. With ever changing legislation, all firms should be vigilant in identifying and protecting themselves against potential money laundering activities to avoid financial scrutiny and hefty fines. Health checks and maturity assessments can identify any regulatory and policy gaps or areas of concern in a firm’s framework. A health check refers to a high-level review of the design of a framework and can identify major problem areas in a framework. A maturity assessment is more advanced and provides a detailed review of a firm’s framework which includes testing of the effectiveness of the framework itself.

Independent testing of a firm’s FC framework is a very important requirement from regulators to show that all controls are indeed effective. Lysis Group has extensive experience in this regard and a thorough understanding of the expectations from global regulators. The assessments are completed in line with the current industry regulations and best practice and benchmarked against the firm’s business model and risk appetite. Upon completion of the health check and maturity assessment, the Lysis Group can provide a detailed plan to advise firms on the next steps that should be taken to meet the regulatory requirements, both from a macro and micro perspective. Health checks and maturity assessments can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of any firm, regardless of business activity and industry. We can therefore support financial service institutions including wholesale and investment banks, payment services and cards, wealth managers, challenger banks and firms from a range of other regulated industries, plus crypto asset firms.