[Photo:  By Transition 2017 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVzJBEYtFKU / Wikimedia Commons]

What does the future of compliance hold now that Donald Trump is going to be the next U.S. president? Will compliance be scaled back - at least for the next 4 years? Risk & Compliance Journal asked some leaders in the field of compliance what they think will happen. The panel includes:  (i) Roy Snell - CEO, Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics;  (ii) Scott Killingsworth - Attorney, Bryan Cave;  (iii) Donna Boehme - Principal at Consultancy, Compliance Strategists LLC;  (iv) Alison Taylor - Director of Advisory Services, BSR;  (v) Thomas Fox - Compliance Ambassador, Red Flag Group.

Financialish.com will start the conversation.  Click the link below for the rest.

Roy Snell - CEO, Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.     Some estimate there are 200,000 pages of regulations - and the odds of making a dent in that are slim. ...  Enforcement is a for-profit industry and anyone who thinks there is going to be a material change, I would say good luck with that.

Scott Killingsworth - Attorney, Bryan Cave:     It is easy to underestimate the uncertainty in how all this plays out through the political and legal process. What we can be sure of is that there will still be plenty of conduct risk to go around, risk that argues for continued investment in compliance. Federal enforcement may move from financial services, health care and foreign corruption to other areas of greater interest to the new administration. Enforcement generally may move from the federal level to state attorneys general and private litigants, both of whom are fully conscious of the potential to collect enormous fines and damage awards. There is no reason to believe these players will leave the game.

Donna Boehme - Principal at consultancy, Compliance Strategists LLC.     Not in the least. This notion reflects flawed thinking by “experts” without compliance subject matter expertise. They view the work of compliance as nothing but check-the-box activity driven by regulations. The reduction of regulations will have a direct effect on the activities of certain relevant risk areas like financial services and the environment, but changes in those areas will probably create even more work for compliance, which will have to work closely with its subject matter experts in those areas to respond to the changes.