The Compliance Officer Bill of Rights

American Banker
1 minute read | February.22.2016

Regulators and prosecutors are under increasing pressure to bring charges not only against companies, but also against individual corporate officers. Compliance officers in particular are in the legal crosshairs and running scared.

No one benefits if compliance officers head for the doors. Their jobs involve a high degree of tension (and are hard to fill). Fear of criminal prosecution, financial penalties and reputational damage should not be added to the stress. The rights and responsibilities of compliance officers should be defined by clear and binding guidelines, including a safe harbor for those who play by the rules. I propose a compliance officers bill of rights.

A compliance officer's role is often advisory, not executive — corporate decisions are ultimately made by management and the board of directors. However, the compliance officer should have a seat at the table when significant decisions impacting compliance are made.

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Authors

Jeremiah Buckley Partner, Financial & Fintech Advisory, Strategic Advisory & Government Enforcement (SAGE)

Washington, D.C.

See my bio

D:+1 202 349 8010
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Financial & Fintech Advisory
Strategic Advisory & Government Enforcement (SAGE)
Fintech

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See full bio

Jeremiah Buckley Partner

Washington, D.C.

Jerry is a thought leader in the field of financial services regulation. He co-hosts RegFi, a weekly podcast series, that explores how financial regulation will change more in the next 10 years than in the last 50: https://www.orrick.com/en/Podcasts/RegFi.

Early in his career, Jerry served as Minority Staff Director of the United States Senate Banking Committee, and he played an important role in drafting many of the laws that impact the consumer financial services industry today. Since entering private practice, he has guided clients in developing compliance programs, dealing with regulatory and enforcement challenges and helping shape public policy.

Throughout his career, he has focused on promoting enhanced delivery of financial services. He was a leader in advocating the passage of the federal ESign Act, which authorized use of electronic records in financial services and other transactions. He served as counsel to the Drafting Committee for Standards and Procedures for Electronic Records and Signatures (SPeRS). He co-authored The Law of Electronic Records and Signatures (West Publishing Company) as well as Introduction to Mortgage Banking (American Bankers Association).

He has also taken a lead in promoting national data protection standards. His American Banker article, “Congress needs to hurry up on data protection,” lays out the case for national standards as an alternative to a patchwork of state privacy laws. He serves as advisor to the Financial Services Trade Associations Data Protection Working Group, an informal alliance of national financial trade associations responding to fast changing legislative and regulatory developments related to privacy and data security. He is also an advisor to the Association for Data and Cyber Governance (ADCG) and the Alliance for Innovation in Regulation (AIR).

His clients include banks, mortgage companies, credit card issuers, insurance companies, broker dealers, fintech companies, investment banks and private equity investors. Jerry provides strategic counsel and advice on business formations and acquisitions, licensing and chartering, risk management and enforcement matters involving federal and state regulators.

He has defended companies that are targets of inquiries or enforcement actions by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Congressional Committees and state attorneys general.

Jerry has promoted a modernized approach to financial regulation (regtech). He led Buckley LLP's effort to publish a widely read white paper titled “Financial Regulators’ Dilemma: Administrative and Regulatory Hurdles to Innovation.” The paper is based on interviews with Heads of Innovation at the principle financial agency regulators, and lays out legal and administrative stumbling blocks identified by regulators themselves impeding regtech advances.

Jerry's opinion pieces regularly appear in financial service publications. He has advocated for development of “dynamic disclosures” to offer more useful information to consumers than is provided under the often cumbersome and voluminous static disclosures currently provided.

An article he wrote in the American Banker in 2016, “The Compliance Officer Bill of Rights,” focused attention on the growing risks faced by compliance officers. This led to a symposium on “Rights and Responsibilities of Today’s Chief Compliance Officers — Their Evolving Role,” which was chaired by Jerry and sponsored by American University Washington College of Law. Chief compliance officers from the nation’s leading companies participated in this seminal discussion about how to define and make safe the job of a chief compliance officer.

He has acted as counsel for a number of national financial services trade associations on matters before regulatory agencies and Congress, and in filing amicus briefs related to the interpretation of banking and consumer finance laws in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and appellate courts.

He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at American University's Washington College of Law. In 2007, he founded a national financial services consulting company known as Treliant Risk Advisors.

In 2015 he was awarded the Senator William Proxmire Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers.