Welcome to the Research Assistant Weekly Newsletter - a subscriber-only resource for insight into emerging compliance challenges, details on peer calls, and links to new Research Assistant reports, documents, tools, and more.

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As 2022 draws to a close, now is the time to begin defining specific goals and objectives for your compliance program in 2023. 

Between Reg F and state updates, the ARM industry has had almost non-stop regulatory changes in the past couple of years. In this constantly evolving environment, goal setting is one of your best tools to maintain ever-expanding compliance programs, and ensure your compliance goals are aligned with company’s overall goals.

Your 2023 goals should have deadlines and your objectives should be measurable, realistic, and achievable with your current resources. Compliance program goals should also link to the long-term specific goals of the company. Tying your goals to the budget, with specific activities accounted for in both costs and revenues, are important for Board of Directors and/or Executive Leadership teams’ buy-in. For each strategic objective, describe the support and how you’ll utilize your current resources. If a goal cannot be achieved using your current resources, illustrate in detail what you will need to achieve it.

In this week’s Research Assistant call I aked he group about their 2023 goals. As per usual, our members had some great responses. Here are some of them:

• Significantly reduce litigation and the costs associated with it. 

• A key indicator that your Compliance Management System is working effectively is by analyzing your litigation trends.

• Implementing additional information security controls to comply with the FTC’s Amended Safeguards Rule. 

• Implement monthly short information security training for all staff that includes a quiz. 

• Implement regular tests using a service provider that pushes phishing emails to employees to see where learning retention gaps may exist. 

Both are great goals that can impact an organization’s bottom line. Some other 2023 goals to consider may include: 

• Conducting a Compliance Risk and Gap Assessment internally or externally. 

• Reminder! you can find our series on risk and gap assessments, as well as a sample gap assessment racking log and audit control matrix here (select “Gap Assessment” from the list and all webinars and tools will show up in an easy to navigate format)

• Establishing an independent audit team internally or externally. 

• Re-evaluating your vendor and service provider oversight function to ensure it meets both the CFPB’s expectations regarding consumer financial protection laws and the FTC’s Amending Safeguards Rule. 

• Evaluating call monitoring scorecards to ensure they are effective and covering all areas of risks for your organization and your clients. 

• Establishing policies and procedures for the newest trends coming down from the banks. For example, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies are being requested in due diligence on-boarding more frequently. 

• Identifying technology resources and services to help your company more effectively comply with your compliance responsibilities. 

I anticipate 2023 will continue to keep us on our toes so your compliance goals should assist you in overcoming those challenges. As always, your Research Assistant Peer Group is here to support you work through the curveballs we cannot adequately prepare for in advance!

Top Reads: 

• CFPB Proposes Registry to Detect Repeat Offenders

• State AGs File Amicus Briefs Urging Supreme Court to Grant CFPB’s Petition for Certiorari Seeking Review of Fifth Circuit Ruling That CFPB’s Funding is Unconstitutional

• Looking Back on 2022: A Dynamic Year for the ARM Industry

Upcoming Webinars/ Other Announcements:

• 2023 Research Assistant Webinar Series Coming Soon!

• No Peer Calls December 26th and January 2nd. Happy Holidays!

• First peer call of the year will be Monday, January 9th at 4:00 ET. 

• Check out Research Assistant’s newest resource: Statute of Limitations Matrix

• Reminder to please complete our Research Assistant Survey: Help Us, Help You!

• Research Assistant sponsor Provana has a new resource page just for Research Assistant members. Check out the new Provana resources and check in for special offers right here. 

Reminder: Send any topics or questions that you want to discuss to sara@insidearm.com by Thursday January 5th to ensure it makes it on our agenda for Monday, January 9th.