Broker Compliance Audit

Whether you have just obtained authorisation or you have been authorised for a period of time, your firm will be required to meet and demonstrate compliance with a broad arrange of laws, regulations and codes.

Drawing on our extensive experience we can work with you to provide an objective an independent assessment of your regulatory compliance framework. We provide the following range of Compliance Audit services:

Business Broker Compliance Audit

This is a wide-ranging review that examines your firm’s key policies and procedures such as anti-money laundering, fitness and probity, remuneration, conflicts of interest, complaints and the minimum competency code.

Our comprehensive business audit also reviews your firm’s recent regulatory history with the Central Bank such as your annual online return and fitness and probity return.

The audit will conclude with a review of your firm’s IT systems and website.

Suitability Audit

We review your Fact Find and Suitability letters to determine if you are asking the right questions and collecting the required information and documentation to ensure you recommend the most suitable financial product for your client.

Provision of Information Audit

This audit focuses on the information that you provide to your clients. Let us review your Terms of Business to ensure it satisfies the relevant regulatory requirements.

Our audit will also assess your firm’s compliance with recent Central Bank regulations relating to ‘independence’ and how you disclose remuneration information to your clients.

Thematic Audit

The focus of this review is narrower than the Business Compliance Audit. A themed inspection focuses on an important regulatory requirement, for example, fitness and probity or anti-money laundering.

At McCole & Co. Consultants, we constantly monitor the themed inspections conducted by the Central Bank. For example, the Central Bank recently conducted a fitness and probity inspection of Credit Unions.

We also monitor important correspondence issued to industry. For example, in 2019 the Central Bank issued an anti-money laundering survey requesting financial brokers to provide information relating to savings and investments, life assurance and pensions.