CHALLENGES OF THE BOARD MEMBERS
Alex, a Chief Risk Officer at an investment bank has been an Executive Director for the last 12 months, during which time the firm rapidly expanded and opened 2 branch offices with plans for 3 more in the next year. During this time Alex has seen growing pressure on the Board which is having to make decisions based on inconsistent and unreliable data (derived from multiple systems). Alex expressed an urgent need for the firm to start streamlining processes, implement clear reporting lines with assigned responsibilities and start using a single governance system to manage processes to give the Board confidence in their decision-making.
The Problem
- Managing multiple systems across multiple offices leads to inconsistent and conflicting data. The output is unreliable and often redundant. Time is wasted having to extract, cross reference and manipulate data which makes informed decision making almost impossible. The Board require a single source of truth; a centralised hub of information that captures data and provides targeted output at the click of a button.
- Opening branches comes with its own risks, but it also presents a challenge to the Board with regards to how best to deliver the overall group mission/strategic goals and ethos whilst delivering the desired tone across the entire business.
- The Board is required to understand the workings of the firm in order to answer questions and resolve issues, yet the non-executive directors need to have sufficient distance from the day-to-day management of the company in order to hold an objective forward-looking view.
- The method in which the firm steers governance and general monitoring has a fundamental impact on the quality of the information delivered back to the Board. The Board must have confidence that the information presented to them is factually correct and easily digestible and be satisfied that the tools can evidence such governance, in a user friendly and concise format.
Axiol is built using role-based dashboards, forms and workflows. Each item is easily configurable so that the relevant information is available to the right person.
The Solution
By onboarding Axiol the firm was able to improve both operational efficiency and its MI globally. Switching to a user-friendly online governance, risk and compliance system to manage processes such as Gifts and Hospitality and Personal Account Dealing requests, meant that the controls outlined in the firm’s governance policies were easily configured into Axiol. Axiol is built using role-based dashboards, forms and workflows. Each item is easily configurable so that the relevant information is displayed to the right person. This gave the Board comfort that the firm could finally evidence their governance from executive level to junior staff across all branches and focus their attention and resources to growing the business. Alex immediately noticed the Management Information (MI) from Axiol, derived from a single source across all processes, meant that the data was consistent, removed from any manipulation or interpretation. Further, the powerful drill-down technology within the Axiol dashboards could be used during meetings which helped to immediately resolve issues and answer questions. This functionality reduced the number of take away action points and enabled the Board to arrive at informed decisions confidently and swiftly. Consequently, Board meetings were running more efficiently and time that had previously been wasted questioning the reliability of the reports could now be spent on more urgent matters to ensure the firm continues to run profitably, in line with regulatory requirements as well as the strategic goals of the firm.
Benefits
- Streamlined processes aligned with the firm’s policies
- Highly flexible configuration which makes responding to change quick and efficient
- Informed decision making with fully audited workflows
- Exportable reports in real time
- Demonstrable compliance reducing the likelihood of regulator intervention
- Role-based set up means users only see information relevant to their needs
- Architecture that grows with the business
Axiol Ltd is an enterprise-wide Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) system which combines risk management and compliance functionality into one no-code solution to deliver targeted compliance.
For more information about Axiol and how we can help your firm please email info@axiol.com.