International compliance bodies set to collaborate

The Compliance Institute of South Africa has announced the formation of a global alliance of compliance associations, to be known as the International Federation of Compliance Associations (IFCA).

Julie Methven, CEO of the Institute, says IFCA’s primary purpose will be to promote professionalism in compliance and business ethics, particularly in light of the inter-relationships and overlaps of legislation across international borders.

“Given the increasing internationalisation of compliance obligations and the compliance profession, as well as the mobility of compliance professionals, the time has come to collaborate more closely with other international bodies,” Methven says.

“The Institute has been at the forefront of delivering better compliance practices and member services in South Africa for the past 15 years. Through IFCA, the Institute is now taking these developments onto the international stage.”

The four founding members of IFCA are the Compliance Institute of South Africa, the Australasian Compliance Institute, the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland, and the USA’s Ethics and Compliance Officers Association.

Though based in the USA, the Ethics and Compliance Officers Association (http://www.theecoa.org/) which was founded in 1991, serves more than 1200 compliance and ethics professionals in 30 countries, across a wide range of industry groups. The Compliance Institute of South Africa (http://www.compliancesa.com/), which was established in 1995, has over 1000 members. While its roots are in the financial services industry, it has a growing membership of compliance officers from other industries. The Australasian Compliance Institute (http://www.compliance.org.au/) was established a year later (1996) and serves over 2200 members in the Asia Pacific Region. The Irish body, the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland (http://www.acoi.ie/) is the youngest of the four organisations, having been founded in 2002 and has almost 1400 members.

IFCA’s goals and objectives including sharing compliance best practice, developing the compliance and business ethics profession, ensuring high standards for qualifications, and sharing information regarding best practice business models and service offering of IFCA members.