Roles are now at stake’ in financial institutions around the world as they get to grips with the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). With nearly 30 early adopter CRS deadlines rapidly looming many institutions and organizations are under pressure as some of these deadlines represent high volume deadlines when financial institutions need to supply a significant amount of reporting data to early adapter jurisdictions.
It’s important to realize that the Common Reporting Standard is not so common, changes are still being released by local governments, which can very easily be missed. Therefore, it is important to seek input and assistance when reporting in other jurisdictions. It is also crucial that all reporting processes and internal procedures are documented in time for risk audits, which are expected to commence in the near future. All financial institutions which are headquartered or have operations in CRS reporting countries will need to have processes and procedures in place to meet their CRS obligations. The increased volumes of data to be collected and reported under CRS results in a logistical challenge in how to go about gathering, storing and retrieving the information required. It is therefore very important to have developed a procedural process map to support the CRS processes and procedures.
Most financial institutions in early adopter countries have updated procedures for on-boarding of current accounts and products. But future new products will also need to be checked for CRS compliance too. This is particularly relevant to asset managers, some of which launch new funds frequently and procedures therefore need to be future proofed to include an update of CRS regulations. Having the right processes and procedures in place is not the only challenge; there must be good controls to ensure the financial institution is doing what it should to meet its CRS obligations. Financial institutions need to keep track how they can incorporate their ongoing CRS processes into their everyday business, including the training needed for their staff and for their back offices related to the data management.
Financial institutions may consider, from a cost perspective, to delegate parts of the CRS reporting process including the training needed for their staff and for their back offices related to the data management, to a third party. From our own experience we have seen an increase in demand from financial institutions and asset management firms that have engaged our Ciltrust International Solutions Services to assist them with the support and procedural processes and other types of regulatory reporting services as to provide them with the execution and back-offices on their behalf.
We are well qualified and we have a deep understanding of these regulatory reporting requirements that are applicable and are supporting financial institutions in evaluating the effectiveness of internal control systems and improving risk and compliance management practices.
Key Features
- Expertise: Obtain operational and technical assistance, training and education.
- Cost savings: Reduce cost on tax compliance, customer onboarding and compliance monitoring;
- Risk-limitation: avoiding any additional cost as result of non-compliance penalties and reputational damage for institutions not applying these complicated rules correctly; and
- Solution-oriented: Get a comprehensive solution for compliance and Common Reporting Standard due diligence and reporting requirements. Services include validation of KYC documents and self-certifications, information reporting, and periodic reviews of compliance.
Ciltrust International being at the forefront of these developments already took coordinated action to contact and register those client entities that have gone ahead to being compliant.
For further information, please contact:
Joy Godfrey
Managing Director
Tel: 011-501-22-33738