Group development and Patriot Act compliance in a fiduciary organization

¶ … group work and group dynamics may be applied within a compliance audit work setting. This essay is illustrated with examples from my own practice experience in a fiduciary organization. These examples are drawn from group experience as an analyst with the Compliance Analyst Group that is conducting Patriot Act reviews on new and existing accounts. Group development, generally is more predictable than individual behavior. This is why we will focus on the developmental level that my group is presently at.

Quick Overview of Patriot Act Compliance

Patriot Act compliance is much more stringent for fiduciary actions. Due to liability and legal issues, our firm has chosen a single, integrated, software process from Metric Stream Solutions to demonstrate and document the organizations that we do business with are legitimate and legal to help meet Federal and international regulatory requirements. These requirements are set out in the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations, the Bank Secrecy Act, Financial Services Authority (FSA) Money Laundering Directives, and other global regulations that the U.S. is obliged to enforce under treaty agreements. Financial institutions that fail to perform and document such verifications face enforcement actions and regulatory penalties and also risk significant damage to their reputation, as well as resulting in customer dissatisfaction and defection. Needless to say, this is a team effort, hence the need for an effective PATRIOT Act compliance team.

Group Level-

Based upon the class methodology and since there is only a small difference between or four scores, then this indicates that the team's performance is highly variable. This then would likely mean that we are in the storming phase. That is the bad news. The good news is that due to the scores averaging in the 20s, we should be close to the norming stage. Unfortunately, due to PATRIOT Act stringencies, we do not have the luxury of time. We need to get to the performing stage as soon as possible.

Conclusion

On the positive side, the survey scores for performing were the highest (25) so there is great motivation and enthusiasm to get to the performing stage. Motivation levels have been high due to the camaraderie that has been maintained through the crisis period. We are confident that this should take us through to a positive conclusion in this difficult transition period (Grazier, 2011). Ultimately, the exercise will take the pressure off of us and obviate possible federal or legal actions in the years to come in our firm.