Managing Compliance on a Global Scale
In today’s world, organizations must ensure compliance with rapid, ever-changing regulations. And for some, especially nonprofits operating on a global scale, compliance violations can mean the difference in not only remaining competitive, but also providing much-needed aid to individuals worldwide who rely on them for support. In understanding the significance of managing compliance, Global Communities sought an automated solution to enhance its compliance program in a way that helps the organization to become an even stronger change-agent within global communities and operate efficiently.
“We maintain a strong focus on complying with U.S. laws and regulations,” said Nubia Pacheco, associate counsel for Global Communities, a nonprofit organization that partners with low- and moderate-income communities around the world to help them improve their social, economic and environmental conditions. “Our funding comes through grants and donations, so failure to comply with regulations could result in the loss of funding, fines or prevention from participating in some grant application processes. We must ensure that we don’t provide aid or assistance to anyone involved in terrorist activities.”
Wanting to streamline compliance with Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations and improve efficiency, Global Communities began a search for a compliance partner that could help. The company found CSI Regulatory Compliance and its WatchDOG® Elite, an automated solution that fit its global operations.
Finding a Trusted Compliance Partner
Global Communities operates in more than 20 countries and serves millions of people every year by empowering them to improve their lives and livelihoods for a better future. Having such a broad operation—one that employs persons worldwide and provides support to both communities and individuals—requires Global Communities to focus on compliance at many levels. Global Communities is strictly opposed to terrorism at all levels and must continually check that its employees, donors and recipients aren’t affiliated with terrorist organizations. They found they couldn’t do it alone.
“We conducted an in-depth search for OFAC software companies and found CSI’s WatchDOG Elite,” said Pacheco. “From the start, CSI worked hard to understand our needs and provide solutions that addressed our global framework.”
And because Global Communities has offices around the world, the company required a solution that could accommodate different users at each location. It also needed to segregate each office so that individual users had the appropriate permission levels to manage their compliance responsibilities. CSI helped create a framework that worked well for Global Communities.
“We credit our account manager as well as WatchDOG Elite’s functionality and affordability for helping us make the decision to use the solution,” said Pacheco. “As a nonprofit, we are always searching for ways to run our organization more efficiently. CSI’s solution and personal attention have helped us improve our OFAC compliance posture significantly. We are pleased that our account manager continues to check in with us regularly.”
Gaining Efficiency Through Automation
Prior to using CSI’s regulatory compliance services, Global Communities diligently screened new employees, donors and recipients against the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s online OFAC watch lists. The process was manual and very inefficient. So the organization turned to CSI’s WatchDOG Elite to help automate OFAC compliance.
“We had to check names one by one, and it was burdensome for our staff. For example, we would need to screen more than 3,000 people at a time, especially for our lending programs, and many of our offices were conducting the checks manually,” said Pacheco. “WatchDOG Elite allows us to audit checks across the entire organization from a centralized portal. Our compliance officers can go back in and verify individual checks, allowing us to double-check the careful work of our local offices.”
CSI’s WatchDOG Elite offers a web-delivered solution that simplifies regulatory compliance. It automates OFAC screenings by quickly and easily comparing customer lists against multiple watch lists, including OFAC’s SDN and Sanctioned Countries Lists. Through the solution, organizations can improve efficiency by utilizing single lookup and batch processing options. CSI manages and facilitates the web-based software and hardware to ensure organizations have access to the latest watch lists.
“We have become more efficient when conducting OFAC checks. We appreciate the batch processing option. Global Communities receives support from many generous individuals, and WatchDOG Elite helps us ensure that donations are used appropriately. It also gives us the ability to audit OFAC checks, verify they are being implemented correctly and then take corrective action when issues arise.”
Nubia Pacheco
Associate Counsel for Global Communities
And the tremendous time efficiencies gained are undeniable.
“WatchDOG Elite cuts down on the time employees spend on compliance and allows them to spend more time assisting the communities we work with around the world. Our productivity has improved, and I estimate that we’ve reduced manual processing by 75 percent. WatchDOG Elite makes the workload significantly less for people completing OFAC screenings.”
Simplifying Compliance With User-Friendly Design
To manage compliance across more than 20 countries, Global Communities needed a tool that could be implemented in each location and used by employees with varying degrees of computer experience and English-speaking abilities. Often, nonprofits like Global Communities operate in areas of the world that aren’t business hubs–their offices are in remote locations so they must deal with unique challenges. For instance, some employees aren’t familiar with computers, have limited Internet access or don’t speak English very well. In fact, some individuals are lucky to have clean water, let alone computer programs available in their language. With WatchDOG Elite, Global Communities could bridge these barriers.
“One of the best features is that it’s very user-friendly; it can be used by people around the world,” said Pacheco. “WatchDOG Elite makes it easier for them to complete compliance screenings, even as non-English speakers. We created guidebooks for each of our locations, and we give our users single lookup and batch process access. The screens are right there, and they know what to do.”
WatchDOG Elite also allows Global Communities to customize settings by each user’s role, and limit access to just those functions and screens they need. This functionality makes using the software less complicated, especially for employees who only use a computer to conduct OFAC screenings. And while users only see screens to which they have been granted permissions, compliance managers have “admin” status, which means they have access to robust tools available in the solution for tracking, auditing and taking corrective actions.
“Our compliance staff is onboard, happier and managing OFAC compliance much more effectively,” said Pacheco. “We couldn’t be more pleased with WatchDOG Elite and the responsive service we receive from CSI. We just renewed our contract and hope to be with CSI long into the future.”
About CSI Regulatory Compliance
Managing today’s complex regulatory requirements can be challenging for any business, and CSI Regulatory Compliance serves as a trusted partner, simplifying compliance and risk management. With more than 5,000 customers globally, CSI provides a full range of compliance solutions for the requirements of GLBA, USA PATRIOT Act, OFAC, BIS, BSA, Regulation E and more.